Quick, But Not Quite Painless
by Mission Accomplished
Summary: Post Movie:2007 Pre Movie:2009 Bumblebee's not the smallest of the Autobots anymore, not since the strange femme crash landed. Could there be something growing between them? RATING:M for violence and suggestive themes. Possible Bumblebee/OC
1. Chapter 1: The Landing

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Transformers, they belong to whomever it is that created them. I am merely borrowing them for the duration of this story.

**A/N: **You'll have to excuse some of the character if they appear to be a OOC. This is my first Transformers fic, I am trying to keep them in character. And this is slightly based off of a roleplay that I have.

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Enigma was beginning to doubt that the others were still out there, she hadn't heard anything in a very long while and it was starting to take it's toll on her. Then again she wasn't really awake at the moment, she was in fact in a deep slumber, saving her energy. Although what she was saving it for she didn't know, all she knew was there was a different voice in her head now.

"_With the All Spark gone, we cannot return life to our planet. And fate has yielded its reward: a new world to call home. We live among it's people now, hiding in plain sight, but watching over them in secret, waiting, protecting. I have witnessed their capacity for courage and though we are worlds apart, like us, there's more than meets the eyes. I am Optimus Prime, and I send this message to any surviving Autobots taking refuge among the stars. We are here. We are waiting."_

She triangulated the location of the transmission and so changed her course, heading towards it. She decided against sending a transmission back, she knew that it wouldn't reach them, her systems hadn't been maintained. Through no fault of her own, she had just barely escaped from Cybertron when the Decepticons destroyed it. And at the time she was very behind the others, opting to look as old as she was. That meant she was butt of many jokes, but she didn't really care. However, if her height was brought into the mix then it was wise to run. She might be smaller compared to the others, but what she lacked in height she made up for in weaponry.

She had a few canons but her weapon of choice happened to be…well to put it bluntly, herself. She would use her entire body in the attack, and as powerful as she was, she was often flung away like a bug. It didn't stop her from fighting though; only when she had too defend herself, or make a point. (Which was often, but hey, who's keeping track.) She was the silent type, opting to express herself through movements, or not at all. She was tired of talking to others, they didn't understand the way she thought. To which she named herself, Enigma.

In what seemed mere days to her, she crash landed on Earth. Crawling out of the crater made by her landing she sent out a small signal. Hoping to catch the attention of someone, a someone that she hoped was still here and not of the evil persuasion. She was answered but not the manor that she expected, the roar of motorcycles drew closer and in moments she blended in.

She became a navy, white, and black Yamaha Triumph, true it was an older model than was currently driving past her, but she liked the style. And so, there she was. A rider less bike with no idea which way to turn. Finally in an act of indecisiveness she followed the pack of bike on the high way, they would lead her somewhere, and the Autobots were bound to be around here somewhere. Then she heard something even eerier than that of the message that brought her to Earth. A Decepticon transmission , and more specially the location of an attack. If she moved quickly she would be able to prevent them from harming those who didn't deserve it.

"_Decepticons on path to Los Angeles, planning to intercept in one mile. Requesting any assistance available." _She hoped that someone would pick it up and come to help her. She knew she wasn't going to be much of a force, but she had to try.

She raced towards them as quickly as her new wheels would allow her without attracting too much attention from the humans around her. She launched herself into the air, going back to her robotic form. Canons firing as she landed, hitting the Decepticon now racing towards her. She was a lot smaller, but she more than made up for it in speed. She raced around it, firing every chance she got, ever mindful of the humans underfoot. She got thrown back into an overpass, nearly crashing through it completely. She shook herself out, grumbling as she got to her feet.

"Little slag, stay down!"

And that was it, he called her short, which were the magic words. She replaced her regular canons with ones that looked much to big for her, and fired. The Decepticon flew backwards until he hit the pavement with a rattling bang. She continued to fire at him, pausing only when he managed to land a hit on her. And due to her already poor state of repair she didn't notice how badly she was wounded. She fired once more causing the robot to explode, the shock wave knocking her back. She knew someone would see that, and that she had only moments to decide her next course of action. She could stay in her robot form and be taken down by the humans, or risk losing her only chance to find the Autobots by returning to her newest alt-form. She didn't have time to decide, her balance was shot…and she toppled over. Making yet another crater in the pavement. She laid there in a daze, her systems running hot but slowing down.

The last thing her optic sensors picked up was a large shadow covering her, she could hear a voice but didn't understand it. Everything was going blank, then she was back in her own mind.

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Optimus Prime was surrounded by his fellow Autobots, they were talking about the more recent Decepticon attacks. It wasn't like they didn't expect to be attacked, but now more and more time was passing between them. He could tell that his weapons specialist, Ironhide was growing restless. Ratchet was occupied running system checks on all of them, the youngest, Bumblebee, especially. The little bot had lost his legs in the battle with Megatron and the other Decepticons. But thanks to their medic he got them back. However the battle wasn't without loss, Jazz had been ripped apart. Time had been passing quickly for them, each of them taking comfort in the others.

Ironhide glanced around at the others, his optics picking up their small movements. Bumblebee was, once again, being scolded by the CMO for using his vocal processors. The minibot was lucky to have it back and really shouldn't be using it as much as he was.

_Can you really blame him, Ratchet?_ asked the weapons specialist through text. To which he got a very stern glare. It was unwise to get on Ratchet's bad side. He had been known to throw various tools and/or tinker with programs to get back at those who annoyed him.

"Ratchet, that's enough. Bumblebee will let you know if anything isn't right," said their leader, fixing his optics on the youngest. Bumblebee was a brave soldier, but very naïve when it came to his own form. He owed he medic a lot.

To make sure the medic understood and please said medic, Bumblebee used his radio to convey his sincerity, "_I promise you, every word I say is true_."

Ratchet smiled at the young bot before giving him a gentle pat on the back, he was happy for him, he really was, but if he wasn't careful he could lose his voice again. Ratchet's optics went wide, along with everyone else's, a transmission, and friendly by the sounds of it.

"Optimus?" asked the senior members, Ironhide and Ratchet both ready for a little 'con kicking. Bumblebee looked very expectant, they all waited for their leader to decide the next course of action. They didn't have to wait long.

"We will be investigate, we'll keep you in radio contact."

"_Why must I stay behind, it would be simpler for me to do recon," _asked Bumblebee over their links. And in moments the older bots had him surrounded.

Optimus was the first to speak, his voice loud and commanding, "You are not yet ready to return to action. You are going to wait for us here."

Neither Ironhide or Ratchet had anything to add, if they did it would just undermine Optimus' control. They looked at him, resolve clearly on his faceplate even if it didn't really express emotion. Bumblebee bowed his head in submission, he knew better than to question Prime.

Optimus turned his back on the little bot and shifted to his alt-form, and taking the cue, so did Ratchet and Ironhide. They drove away leaving Bumblebee to his own devices. The minibot watched them go, waiting until they where far enough away before going to his alt-form and following after them. Sure Prime would be angry, but they might need him. As the four Autobots drove towards the origin of the signal they could feel small impact tremors. They all came skidding to stop, something, or someone, had just exploded. The group started up again, moving at speeds that their alt-forms shouldn't.

In minutes they where at the battle sight and shifting out of their alt-forms. Ironhide investigated the fallen Decepticon, motioning for Optimus to join him; while Ratchet, being the medic that he was, knelt down next to the other. It was clear that she was online, but fading quickly.

"Primus, it's a femme," said the medic in a whisper as he gently touched her battered armor. "Optimus!" he called.

The large bot knelt down to the CMO and looked at the femme, his optics taking in everything. He looked at his medical officer, "What needs to be done, Ratchet?" he asked, the other Autobots joining them. Ironhide looked a little upset that the femme had gotten more action than he did, but he also looked pained. Bumblebee looked confused at the sight of the femme, he didn't remember many femmes.

Ratchet did a quick scan of the femmes systems, most of them seemed to be down, and those that weren't were going to be. Her spark was fighting a losing battle and needed help if she was going to survive. He lifted her into his arms, "We need to get back to the hanger, I don't know how long she'll last." He turned and began running as quickly as he could without damaging the small femme in his arms.

"I'll talk with you later, Bumblebee," Optimus stated before following after Ratchet. Ironhide gave the young bot a look of sympathy before shifting to his alt-form and driving away. Bumblebee shifted into his alt-form of a yellow and black camero and headed towards the hanger.

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**Song(s) used by Bumblebee: **_This I Promise You_ by N'sync

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	2. Chapter 2: Canon totting femme

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Transformers. If I did I would tons of money.

**A/N:** I would like to thank everyone who faved/alerted this story. And give big hugs to those of you who left a review. Thank you. I love you guys.

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Ratchet had been working on the small femme for days, pausing only to recharge himself. And during those periods of his absence either Bumblebee or Ironhide kept watch. Optimus was dealing with the humans to cover up the damages caused by the battle. They didn't enjoy knowing that there was another Autobot to cover up for, especially since they didn't know how she was going to act. Ironhide had his doubts about the femme as well, but he kept them to himself. No sense in worrying the others with his thoughts. Bumblebee seemed to have taken a liking to her.

It was only natural, they were both mini-bots; not to mention that the small yellow bot was assisting Ratchet whenever he could. The medic was thankful for the help and it allowed him to keep a close eye on Bumblebee as well. The little bot had been careful not to use his voice around the CMO, unless told to do so, which wasn't often. He knew how lucky he was to have it back, he owed his voice and his legs to the bot often beside him.

"Go get some rest, 'bee, I'll stay with her until Ratchet wakes up," said the weapons specialist, he wanted to spend some time with the femme alone. Even if she wasn't online he enjoyed talking to her.

"_Hey, hey, hey. Goodbye__,"_ said the little bot before he got up and walked out of the hanger to go see Optimus. Yes, he had been on the receiving end of a rather lengthy scolding, but he felt that it was worth it. He had been able to see the femme without being questioned by Ratchet. However he was now serving as the CMO's assistant, he enjoyed spending time with him, and felt that after a while he wouldn't have to worry about his vocal processors.

"_Optimus?" _asked Bumblebee, taking advantage of their com-links. The large bot wasn't at the hanger, he was most likely patrolling. Bumblebee waited for a response, revving his engines as he knelt down to rest. He needed a good recharge, then again he also wanted to make sure that everything was okay with the small femme. They still didn't know her name, or anything about her really. Ratchet was hopeful, he said that he should be able to bring her back online soon. Everything was going according to plan, in spite of this she had managed to scare the spark out of him time and time again.

Many of her repairs had been crude and shouldn't have worked. Optimus shared his surprise, he knew better than anyone else that the femmes had been destroyed. He also had his fears about the small femme, she could be a Decepticon sent to destroy them from the inside out. If she was, then why did she destroy the other? He really needed to speak with her, if only Ratchet would turn her systems back on. He had been meaning to check up on his progress. He heard the yellow bots call and turned around, driving back towards the hanger. He was done with his patrol anyway.

He shifted back to his robotic alt-form and looked at Bumblebee, "What troubles you, little one?"

"_I'm scared, uh huh__," _Bumblebee said quietly, he didn't enjoying the feeling, it was strange. Prime looked down at him, his faceplate conveying what could be considered a smile. He knew how he felt, he too, was afraid for the femme currently laying in the med bay. They turned to look at the hanger doors, from within they could hear shouts of anger. Either Ironhide had done something stupid, or the medic was awake and mad about something. They walked in quickly, discovering the old weapons specialist being dragged out of the area by Ratchet.

"I don't care if you talk to her, or not. But I have work to do, and you are **not** helping!" exclaimed the medic as he released Ironhide and turned to fix glaring optics on the other two Autobots.

"Do you require anything?" asked Optimus gently, glancing at Ironhide who was walking out of the hanger. Bumblebee walked passed the CMO with purpose, he was going to help whether he liked it or not. Both Ratchet and Optimus watched as he did so, a look of amusement upon the latter's faceplate. The former however was pleased, he would be able to do a quick check up before getting back to work.

"How are things coming with the femme?" asked the Autobot leader as he moved closer to his medial officer.

"She's stable. I should be able to get her back online in a few hours," replied the medical bot happily, "You should have seen what I've had to replace, Optimus. How she's done any of this is beyond me. By all rights she should be dead." His voice dropped as he admitted the last phrase.

"Good, I shall leave you to your work. Inform me as soon as she is online."

"Of course." Ratchet then turned and walked into the med bay, finding Bumblebee looking down at the femme. He seemed to be in deep thought, as if trying to talk with her through a link. Ratchet had mulled over the possibility of that a long time ago, admittedly he never tried it. He never found a reason to chat with bots that were offline. Maybe the small yellow bot was going to have more luck.

"Ready to get to work?" he asked, grabbing a few tools and walking towards them.

"_Let's get ready to rummmmble!__" _exclaimed Bumblebee bouncing on his feet, he was more than ready to get to work, even if he should have been recharging. He only hoped that Ratchet wouldn't notice, or ask him about his state of power. He would have been so lucky.

"Where is he? He should be recharging!" growled a very angry Ironhide as he entered the med bay. Bumblebee shrunk down to avoid the large bots glare. Ratchet turned to face Ironhide, ready to fling a tool at him. The weapons specialist thought nothing of the CMO's glare as he crossed the floor to Bumblebee's side.

"_Opps, I did it again.__" _

"Yes, you did. And if I have to tell you again, I'll drag you there myself," growled Ironhide as he bend at the waist to look him in the optics. "Rest, young one, she'll be here when you get back." he added gently, glancing at the femme.

"Good night," he said as he walked out of the hanger, Ratchet prepared to scold him. Ironhide preventing the scolding by stepping closer to the femme and laying a large mechanical hand on her arm.

"Let's get to work, Ratchet," said the black bot, looking at him. Ratchet smiled and turned back to face the femme and his friend.

They worked the next hour or so in quiet, communicating via link. The only thing the medical mech had left to do was replace her spark casing. And that was when things began to get a little interesting.

Enigma was slowing coming back online, her basic systems running smoothly, even though she knew they shouldn't be. _Something must have happened. Have I been captured? _

VOCAL PROCESSOR 99%

COOLING SYSTEMS 100%

WARNING unauthorized access to spark WARNING

EMERGENCY REBOOT

_Yes, I have captured. _She knew just what to do, and if she had to harm a few humans to get away from them, then so be it. She had to find the other Autobots, and quickly if the human were playing around with sparks. She could feel strange devices pulling at her spark casing, almost like mech digits. She pushed the thought away. No time for second thoughts, she had to do something.

She activated her canons while simultaneously jumping, as quickly as she could, into a standing position. Her optics scanned the room quickly, it was filled with various tools, supplies and two…Autobots. No, that couldn't be right. Unless that voice she had been hearing had belonged to one of them.

"Whoa, whoa!" exclaimed Ratchet, both himself and Ironhide, moving back. The femme wasn't the only one with canons blazing. Ratchet found himself between a potently hostile femme bot, and a canon-totting-trigger-happy Ironhide. Maybe he was in the wrong line of work, but being a pacifist had it's advantages. He knew how to talk Ironhide down at least, the femme might prove to be a bit harder.

They stood there in silence, measuring up the other. Ironhide really liked this femme, after his own spark. Even if she was a bit on the viscous side, judging by the way she dealt with the Decepticon. Whom they identified as Barricade. Ratchet moved to face the femme slightly, getting a better view of her. He knew old Ironhide wasn't going to fire on her; he was more concerned that she would fire on them. "_Optimus, we have a little problem. It seems our femme bot has awoken ahead of schedule."_

"Who are you?!" she demanded, as if reading the medic's thoughts. They didn't really have time to respond; Optimus had rushed into the med bay, his hands up in a gesture of submission. One he learned by watching some human movies.

"Ironhide, but them away!" commanded the leader of the Autobots, never taking his optics off the femme. He heard the hiss come from his old friend, then the pleasant sound of his canons powering down. "I am Optimus Prime. Leader of the Autobots. This is Ratchet, my medical officer, he has been working to repair you for days. And Ironhide, my weapons specialist." He motioned to each of them in turn.

Enigma lowered her canons, just now taking notice of how nicely everything was functioning. She didn't know if she could trust them, but they seemed to be very trusting of her. She locked her optics on the one called Ratchet, he had been the one tinkering around with her systems? He had fixed everything, and now she felt weird. A few vorns of running at near system failure, being back to full power would shock even the strongest of bots.

"I am grateful to you," her canons withdrew, "I am called Enigma." She allowed her posture to drop slightly, as if she was relaxing now that she knew who was around her. She had found them, the last of the Autobots. She could feel the optics of the others on her, making her slightly uncomfortable.

Ratchet moved towards her slowly, causing her to take a step back. He looked at Optimus, "_I still need to repair her spark casing."_ He spoke through their link.

"_Then it must be done. Shall I inform her?"_ came the reply, followed by a quizzical tilt of the head.

"_No, it should be me. I'm the CMO."_ Ratchet said looking back at Enigma.

"Enigma?" he said gently, using the same tone he often used on Ironhide or Bumblebee to get them to calm down during an exam. "I need to repair your spark casing," he continued once he had her attention.

Enigma looked down at her spark casing, it was indeed need of repair, but what all did he have in mind. "How much needs to be repaired?" she wasn't one to beat around the bush, not when it came to someone messing around her spark. She was fine with it the way it was, so why wasn't this medic bot.

"To be quite honest, all of it," he motioned for her to come closer, gesturing at the table in which had jumped from only a breem ago.

Enigma moved towards Ratchet, she was going to have to trust this mech for a little while longer. She sat down on the table and looked at him for further instructions. Ratchet placed a large hand on her shoulder and gently pushed her down. It would be easier to replace if she was laying down.

"I need you to go offline, Enigma," he said, moving to grab the tool he required. Ironhide and Optimus watched silently, hoping that for the sake of the femme that she wouldn't do anything.

"I do not want to go offline again," she stated, turning her head to look at the tool he held in his hand. She looked at others, something had just come to her attention; the bot who had spoken with her wasn't there. She glance around the med bay again, her optics scanning for any spark in the area. She found the spark in question, it was in another area. She looked back at the mech standing over her.

"Where is the other Autobot?"

"What?" asked Ratchet, confused. She couldn't know about Bumblebee, could she? Unless the little bot had been actually speaking with her all this time. It warranted some research. _Later, I'll think about that later._ he thought, committing the idea to his memory bank.

"The other bot, where is he?" she asked again, this time her question was met with shocked looks from the other two Autobots as well.

"I'll get 'bee." said Ironhide, "He wanted to be here anyways." He left the hanger and into their private quarters. He gently placed a hand on Bumblebees resting form.

"Get up, Bumblebee. She's awake," he said shaking him slightly. Bumblebee came back online, his optics flickering back to brightness. He sat up.

"She is awake now?" he asked quickly, completely ignoring the hum of annoyance coming from the weapons specialist. He was excited and so forgot not to use his voice. Ratchet would just have to deal with it.

Bumblebee rushed into the med bay followed by Ironhide who, for lack of better word, was smiling. Optimus found the young bots enthusiasm refreshing, abide a little odd. Did the young bot already have a friendship with her? Judging by her own reaction to the yellow bots entrance, yes they had a devolving friendship.

Bumblebee looked up at Ratchet, then back down to Enigma. The medical mech knew his question, and he also knew that now that he was here she would more cooperative. "I still need to repair her spark casing. Are you going to assist me?"

"Yes, if she wishes," he said looking down at Enigma. He was hit in the back of the head by the tool Ratchet was currently holding. Snickering could be heard from behind them, and it most likely belonged to both Autobots. Enigma looked at them, then back at Ratchet.

"I trust, Bumblebee not to let anything happen to me while I am under your care," she said strongly. She did not know that she had insulted the CMO, but she did know that the voice in her head was beside her again. And that was all that mattered at the moment.

"I need you go offline, Enigma." The CMO stated as he positioned himself above her spark casing. Bumblebee looked at her again, his faceplate conveying the importance of her being offline.

"_This is quick, but not quite painless,"_ he said, using the radio to please Ratchet. Enigma shutdown her optics before finally off lining herself. She entered a state of recharge, even if she didn't really need it, she felt better knowing that she would be able to protect herself if she needed to.

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**Songs used by Bumblebee:** _Na na hey hey Kiss him Goodbye _Bananarama, _Scared _John Lennon, _Let's get ready to rumble _Michael Buffer_, Opps I did it _again Brittany Spears_, What's it feel like to be a _ghost Taking back Sunday


	3. Chapter 3: An insult and a lie

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Transformers, they are merely being used for shits and giggles.

**A/N:** I love you guys, really, I do. So much love. I can only hope that it keeps coming. Thank you!

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Ratchet had repaired Enigma's spark casing without a problem and was now watching the femme in case something had gone wrong. He didn't think anything had, but he wanted to make sure. And apparently so did the rest of the Autobots. They were all gathered in the med bay, waiting for her wake up. Ratchet had refused to wake her up, saying that he didn't want a repeat of last time. Which was understandable, but Prime wanted to speak with her, so did a few humans. He didn't want her meeting with the humans just yet, and his medical officer agreed with him. She was unstable mentally.

Bumblebee had taken to sitting next to her, chirping quietly every once in a while. When asked what he was wrong he stated, via link of course, that he was trying to link with her again. He wasn't having much luck, she was in a deep state of recharge, and didn't want to talk. He looked at the others, his optics finally coming to a rest on Ratchet.

"Ratchet, could you check my vocal processors?" he asked, to which his answer was a flung tool and stern glares. Ratchet got up and walked over to him, humming with anger.

"How many times do I have to tell you, 'bee? If you keep using it like this you'll lose it again." A red beam came from his arm, locking onto his vocal processors, scanning them. To which the young bot flinched. It was never very pleasant, no matter how often it was done. Ratchet's optics locked onto his, it was getting better, but it still needed a lot of work. It was a shame that he didn't have to replace the femme's. He could have used it to repair Bumblebees.

"It's getting better, but I don't want you using it yet," stated the CMO as he walked away to sit down next to Prime and Ironhide. Bumblebee's faceplate moved into a smile and he looked back at Enigma. She was resting peacefully, so there was no need for all of them to be there. Truthfully the only one who was needed in the med bay was Ratchet, but Optimus had decided that they should all stay with him in light of the most recent insult to his abilities. Optimus felt that the medic was a little wounded by Enigma very blunt attack at his skills. But he also understood that it had been Bumblebee who had been talking with her, so in her mind she could very well feel that Bumblebee was the one doing everything important. Of course she was wrong, but in her current state of mental processing.

"She has traveled a long ways, Ratchet, you cannot expect her to treat us all the same as 'bee," said the Autobot leader as he looked at Ratchet. He seemed to be trying very hard not to let the femme get to him. Optimus was in the same position, the femme known as Enigma had thrown them all through a loop. None of them had ever expected a femme bot to crash land on Earth, let alone be able to fight a Decepticon. Ironhide seemed to have a soft spot for her, her canons had knocked him on his aft plate when Ratchet had removed them to work on her armor. Sure, he didn't use them, but it was the idea of a femme with canons like his that knocked him back. Literally. Bumblebee had to pick him up off the floor so they could continue working.

Ratchet looked at Optimus, "I am a little shaken by her attempts at self repair. But for her to insult me like that…" he paused at looked at the yellow bot sitting next to the blue one. He felt a pang of emotion run through his systems. "She is so like him, Prime. So young and full of life."

"You forgot something, Ratch. She's a fighter." Ironhide interjected. They all looked at him, Bumblebee included. He fidgeted awkwardly, aware of their optics on him, he lowered his own gaze. "Well, it's true."

Optimus chuckled, at least as well as a robot could chuckle, and patted the old mech on the back. "Indeed she is old friend."

Bumblebee got up from his spot next to Enigma's side and crossed the floor to join the others. True he couldn't really add much to the conversation but he could still be a part of it. In some small way. He sat down on the other side of Ratchet and leaned back onto his elbows. Optimus looked at Enigma before turning his optics towards the yellow mech. He had told him earlier that he was scared, but you really couldn't see it in him. He seemed so sure of himself, and his trust for her. So what was he afraid of? Now was hardly the time to bring it up, but it should be discussed at some point. Ratchet's joints let out a groan as he shifted his position. The other Autobots looked at him is question, he hardly made such noises, so it was cause for some concern.

"Are you okay?" asked Bumblebee, and again, he was smacked in the back of the head by Ratchet. Which was the only answer any of them needed. He was more than fine, at least they hoped so.

"'Bee! Prime!" called a voice from outside, the Autobots looked at one another in shock. They hadn't expected Sam to come out to the hanger. However it didn't take them long to figure out why he was here. He was probably looking for a certain yellow and black camaro that was supposed to be his car. Surely his parents have noticed it's absence and where being to question that fact.

"Sam cannot come into the hanger. Bumblebee go!" commanded Optimus as he and the others rushed to their feet to close off the med bay. It was anything but subtle. Bumblebee rushed out of the hanger, preparing to distract Sam and get him away from the area. But he was little late, Sam had entered the hanger, and was watching as the others slammed the door closed. He looked at 'bee in question, he wanted to know what was going on. And the most recent news had him a little freaked. He feared that Bumblebee had been damaged, or worse. But judging by the fact the was rushing towards him, he wasn't in the least bit damaged.

"What's going on 'bee?" he asked looking up at his guardian. Bumblebee bend down to look at Sam, his faceplates trying to convey a smile. His worry for the others was over powering however, he knew that Sam needed to know, but he shouldn't be around Enigma until she had met the other humans first. And while it was true that Sam would be around her more, the others had to come first. It was up to them to decide if she was a hazard to the rest of the population. Hopefully they would take her battle with the Decepticon into account and not her current state of mental processing.

She had a few problems to work out. Being alone for a few vorn would have left even the most stable of Autobots in the same bind as her. He felt pity for her, he also felt something strange, a wanting to be closer to her. He didn't quite understand it, nor did he really want to.

"Sam, I am sorry…"he stopped to look over his shoulder, no sign of Ratchet or the others. "We have been busy."

At the end of his sentence Optimus and Ironhide walked out of the med bay, looking rather odd. Both of them had to appearance of one who had just been on the receiving end of one of Ratchet's check-ups. On a bad day. It was true that the medical officer was having a bit of a bad day, but not so much as to cause them unjust discomfort. In all reality, Prime had Ratchet cause them some minor damage to give their story more believability.

"I apologize for keeping Bumblebee, I needed his help," said Ratchet as he exited the med bay, he looked slightly battered himself, which wasn't part of the plan, but it worked to make his point. Sam looked at them in slight discomfort, if they had a reason for keeping 'bee he wasn't going to argue. He looked at them carefully, trying to decide his next course of action.

"I was getting a little worried about you guys, they said there was some kind of earthquake. Looked more like you guys got a little action," he said looking at Ironhide with a smile on his face. He knew the old mech loved to fight and would have been the one in the thick of battle. Ironhide looked down at Sam, his optics locking on a rather odd mark on the boys neck.

"You appear to have been in battle as well," he said, motioning to the discolored spot on his neck, to which Sam fidgeted uncomfortably.

"It's…ahhh…nothing," Sam said, unconsciously touching the hickey in question. Mikaela had been rather aggressive the night before last. He had a hard time explaining it to his parents, and now he had to explain the mark to a bunch of robots. He wasn't going to enjoy this.

Bumblebee chirped, all desire to speak gone now that Ratchet was standing behind him. It was indeed the CMO who spoke, using one of his scanners on the boy, which caused Sam to flinch even though it caused him no real pain. Just made him uneasy.

"It appears to be a breakage of blood vessels, often called a…" he paused while he looked up the correct term for such a mark. It was obviously not a bruise. "hickey. I do believe that is the term used to describe such a mark. Unless you prefer that I use another?"

Sam groaned, his face was reaching towards the color of a rather ripe tomato. He was hoping that that wouldn't happen. He could only hope that now the mech wouldn't decide to explain it further. He really didn't want to know.

"Ratchet, please man, don't," he pleaded, noting the curious looks on the other faces. He hoped that they wouldn't ask any more questions. He was also praying that they didn't decide to look it up for themselves, he didn't want to listen to Bumblebee's chuckling, that is if the little yellow bot came with him and he looked it up. Which he was hoping he didn't, at least the latter anyways. He needed his _car_ back to show his parents that he didn't lose it. Or get it damaged.

"_So tell me what you want…let me drive?"_ asked Bumblebee as he shifted into his alt-form, a very sleek yellow camaro with black racing strips. Sam looked at him before opening the driver side door and sliding in.

"_Keep Enigma safe, I shall be back as soon I can,"_ he said via link, he had no real reason no to go with Sam. And he wanted to see Mikaela again, he missed her, more so than he was willing to say. But she was just another human for him to protect, so he needed to keep them both away from Enigma for a while. He trusted the others to keep her safe.

He also wondered why he was so attached to her, she was a femme yes, a very strange femme. Who he barely knew, let alone had any reason to be attached to her in the first place. He would have to ask one of the others about it. He drove them away from the hanger and back towards Sam's home; Sam was being quiet, perhaps inquiring about the mark on his neck had caused it. They had never seen such a mark before, they had seen one that looked like it, but this was somehow different than a bruise. It was more risky to talk of, from what he could tell it was caused during a rather intimate moment with Mikaela. Even if Sam hadn't said so out right. Bumblebee could tell from the way his face reddened.

"Ahh, 'bee, is everything alright? You know with the others?" Sam asked, he was trying to figure out what was going on, and failing. He didn't quite understand why they were all in such bad shape. Ratchet could have easily repaired them all, unless the medic had been damaged as well, it looked like he had.

"There was a battle with Barricade," Bumblebee answered quickly, a little too quickly for Sam's liking.

"'bee, what aren't you telling me?"

Silence.

"'bee, come on."

More silence. Bumblebee hated to keep Sam in the dark about Enigma, but she was named properly, she was an enigma. They couldn't risk her being around humans, so the less they knew the better. At least for now.

Optimus looked back at Ratchet after Bumblebee drove off with Sam. He could tell that Sam had been very uncomfortable. He was going to question the CMO about it when he spoke.

"I had to get him to leave, Optimus." He then turned and walked back into the med bay to check on the femme recharging there. He looked at her, his optics searching her frame for flaws that he had missed. Finding none he turned his attention to repairing the damage he caused himself. He didn't have a reason to stay that way. He lost himself in his work, tuning out everything. Trying to process what the femme had said to him. It was insulting to be thought so lowly of, especially by a femme. At least it was for him. How could she not trust him, he had worked on fixing her for days, and now that she was awake she was being…well she being a pain in the aft plate.

Optimus watched in morbid fascination as his medical officer worked at very dangerous speeds and with anger. He was slightly scared to approach him, and yet he needed to calm him down lest he do something ignorant.

"Ratchet, perhaps you should go for a drive," said the large purple Autobot gently. His optics met with the medical officers, he could see the energy coming from him. Ratchet nodded, he did need to get away from the femme for a while. She was messing with his processors and she wasn't even online. He walked out of the hanger, leaving Optimus to watch over Enigma, and shifted to his alt-form. He drove off on his normal patrol route, hoping that it would allow him to get back to normal.

* * *

**Songs used by Bumblebee:** _Wannabe_ by Spice Girls, _Drive_ by Alan Jackson


	4. Chapter 4: Leaving

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Transformers, although I do own a Bumblebee toy from Burger King.

**A/N:** And now back to our regularly scheduled program.

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Enigma awoke from her recharge cycle to discover a dosing Ironhide at her side, she looked at the old mech before sitting up and swinging her legs off the table. She was hoping to get an idea of her surroundings, she paused however when the old weapon specialist's optics lit up. He saw her get up, he groaned slightly as he looked her over. She was a wonder to him, a pure wonder.

"Good to see you awake," he said getting to his feet. He was rather hoping show off his canons, or at least get her to show off hers. He had the feeling that if he asked her to the shooting range she wouldn't agree. However, he was going to try, and it wouldn't hurt either one of them to spend time getting to know each other.

"I am glad to finally be able to move around with being stared at," she stated rather bluntly, looking around the med bay while also avoiding the gaze of the other Autobot. When she was satisfied she looked at him, taking in his large size compared to her own rather one. She doubted that she could best him, nor did she really want to. He seemed to be friendly and open to her. She had a few questions to ask of him, and the one called Optimus Prime.

"Where are the others?" she asked standing up and giving her gears a basic test. She really needed to get used to her freshly repaired body. She looked at Ironhide, meeting his optics with her own.

"Bumblebee is guarding Sam. Optimus and Ratchet are patrolling. Just you and me I'm afraid," he answered, his optics never leaving hers. "Looks like you could use a little action."

She was taken back by his last statement, while it was true, it also rather upfront. Was he suggesting that she wasn't allowed to do so without permission? No, surely not. She was however, rather curious as to his ideas of a 'little action'.

"These repairs are all very strange to me. I fear that my weapons systems may have been altered as well," she said, her optics turning to a darker shade of blue. Ironhide placed a large hand on her shoulder, there was no way he was going to allow her to feel anger towards Ratchet. And he knew for a fact that the CMO had done nothing to the way her system functioned. At least he hoped that he didn't.

As for her mention of her weapons systems, well he knew just the thing to take care of that. A little target practice at their near by military base. But he would have trouble getting her in, so that was out. He thought, was there anywhere else they could allow her to fire her canons without alerting the humans? He couldn't think of anywhere suitable. She would just have to wait, and so would he it seemed. He had wanted to see her in action.

"You are Ironhide, correct, the weapons specialist?" she asked moving around the med bay, looking at the various tools and lack of personal affects. It made her uneasy, where did these Autobots recharge? Did they not have lives aside from protecting the humans.

"Yeah. Did 'bee tell you that?" he asked, knowing from his conversations with Ratchet and Optimus that the little yellow bot had been speaking with her. He noticed that her posture changed, she appeared more open to him now. Looking down at her he found that he felt unnerved. Like she could take him down in a millisecond should she ever desire to.

She simply nodded in response, she was getting a little bored of him. If he was the mech Bumblebee had told her about he must be in need of some repairs. She thought about asking him as such, but decided that course of action to be unnecessary. She walked out of the hanger leaving Ironhide standing by himself. At least until he realized that if he lost her he'd consider dealing with a Decepticon instead of Prime. Rushing after her he soon discovered that she was very quick to disappear.

He looked around frantically and in complete radio silence. He couldn't let them know that she got the better of him, even if all she did was walk out of the hanger. Although he had to hand it to her, she was good. If they had any doubts as to her secondary programming it was gone now. She was a slagging spy. At least he hoped that her systems were programmed for such and that she wasn't there to spy on them. When he got his hands on her again, he was going to really ream her for this.

You didn't just fraggin' disappear, not on Ironhide you didn't.

Enigma shifted into her alt-form only to discover that it had changed. No longer was she an old Triumph, she was a Harley Davison; her frame sleeker and more feminine than those she saw when she first landed. She wondered when they had found such a frame, let alone when they saw her in her alt-form to begin with. But all these thoughts and feels paled in comparison to that of the road. It was amazing, but before she got very far she created a driver. A slight young woman in all black leather, much like the bikers she encounter before.

She got further onto the road and drove away from the hanger, she left a nice trail in the dirt. It was a pretty good indication of her plans, if only Ironhide hadn't been overlooking it. She didn't know where she was going, only that she was and it wasn't near the hanger. Nor did she care to think about how she was going to get back, she didn't take the time to memorize the location. Although she doubted it wasn't there anyways. And she wasn't about to make a link to any of them, she would be told to come right back.

Just as thoughts of the others passed through her mind, she drove by them in the opposite direction. A few hundred feet later she heard them squeal to a stop, so they recognized her. Now what, did she keep going, or stop and wait for them to catch up to her. She decided to keep going, either way she was deep shit with them, might as well enjoy it. She sped up, zipping pass cars and other bikers. The later yelling various things at her as she left them in the dust.

There was a small dinging in the back of her mind telling her that someone was trying to talk to her. She ignored it, she wanted to see where she was. At least where she was regarding the humans city. She slowed down when she hit the city limits, taking care to blend in with the rest of the vehicles on the road. She revved her engines as she waited for traffic to clear. She noticed a yellow and black camaro driving down the road ahead of her. Did she dare risk catching up to him, or having him see her. Chances were good that he was already looking for her. Again, she was pinged, and again she ignored it. She did not want to talk to them.

Was that really that hard for them to understand. She was speeding down the road back out of the city, determined to find somewhere free of the voices. She turned off the road, dust flying up behind her as her wheels crunched over the sand and rocks. When she finally came to a stop she shifted back into her robotic form and scanned the area. No life forms for her to worry about besides lizards and rodents, which she found quite interesting. She sat down, her arms folded across her chest as she turned off her optics to think.

She was with Autobots now, they all seemed to care for her. Much like the other femmes had back when they were still functioning. She missed them all, and the younglings, oh how she missed them as well. She had been their last hope and she failed them. She nearly died getting off Cybertron with the last youngling, hoping that he was strong enough. He wasn't, his spark blinked out quickly. And then she was alone in the vastness of space. She wasn't the mech she used to be, she used to love company, to be surrounded by other Autobots.

And now, what was she, she was running away from them, just when her chance of going back to normal was looking more and more possible. She needed them, and from all that she had been told by Bumblebee they needed as well. But how did they need her, to create sparklings, to give them hope back. She didn't want to create sparkling, not on this world. She didn't know how she could possibly help them, she was a femme, not a fighter. Well, okay she was a fighter, but she was programmed to be a spy. Unless they wanted to use her as a spy, but to what purpose. Who could she possibly spy upon here, the humans? The Decepticons were too intelligent to allow a femme into their camp, if they had one.

_**Bing! Bing! Bing! Bing! Bing! Bing! Bing! Bing!**_

She tried to ignore it, but they kept coming. Until finally they stopped, she didn't question it. She was grateful for it. It made thinking that much easier for her.

She was deep in thought, and so didn't notice when a certain yellow bot came into the area. He sank down to sit in front of her, a few hundred yards away. He didn't speak, and wasn't going to. He would allow her to make the first move. But there was something he didn't understand. Why did she go all the way through the city only to rest here. She could have gotten to a similar location much faster from the hanger. He pushed the thoughts from his mind and waited for her to come out of her thought process.


	5. Chapter 5: The Desert

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers, this fanfiction is merely for shits and giggles. **

**Author's Note: I have finally seen Transformers Rise of the Fallen, and I'm hoping to include some things like NEST. And if you haven't seen the newest movie then consider this to be a slight spoiler alert. And as always enjoy. Oh and I'm sorry it too me a while to get this posted.**

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Enigma felt things like never before, everything was stronger now. The fear, the loathing. The curious way her systems were running. She knew that Ratchet had done a lot in repairing her, but she always thought that her emotional processors were untouchable. She had been proven wrong it seemed. Although she had to return to the hanger, or at least give them word of her location. There were multiple messages awaiting her response.

Ignoring them she allowed her optics to flicker back into focus. The first thing to register was the suns location, it was just beginning to sink below the horizon. Secondly, much to her amazement, another pair of optics were sitting across from her. She had no reason to fear the owner of the optics, if it was a Decepticon she would have been long since attacked. She scanned the figure, a very familiar wave washed over her, she knew this mech. Or Autobot rather, quite well actually, and mostly from nonverbal communications. Bumblebee.

Turning on her lights, she flashed a greeting at him, her faceplate forming a smile, even though within she was facing some troubling thoughts. Why was he here, was he sent to watch over her? Did they know where she was but not care? Were there ill motives in their processors? And even more troubling, could she trust herself among them? Her mind didn't allow her to solve that particular problem. She both needed and loathed the company of her fellow Autobots. She had been alone for so long, could she learn to live again? Did living mean creating more Autobots. In creating Sparklings. Could she answer that. Did she dare.

Bumblebee moved towards her slowly, his own processors in overdrive. What did she plan to accomplish by running away. Was she afraid of them and the humans? And even more so, why was he sent to bring her back. True, they had been talking, but surely Optimus or Ratchet could have done so as well. He thought of asking, but decided against it, if Optimus wanted to send him to bring her back, then he knew what he was doing. He sat down closer to her, waiting for her to speak.

After a few minutes of silence, however, he spoke first. "We have been worried."

To which he was given a shaky nod of the head, he felt so strange around her now, as if he wanted to be closer to her. But he also felt that it was difficult to become her friend, that she still didn't trust them, even after everything they have done for her. Perhaps it was better for them all if they kept her away from the humans, and…limited her contact with them. He reached out towards her, placing a large hand on her leg gently. He looked at her carefully, hoping, that for her sake she would say something. Silence bothered him, it usually meant something bad was going to happen.

"I am not sorry," when his expression fell she added, "I do not expect you to understand, many do not." She moved his hand off of her leg and let her own gaze fall upon the sun. It was nearly under the horizon now, it was beautiful, much like the nights on Cybertron.

"Why?" he asked, tilting his head to the side. He knew that Ratchet would most likely kill him when they got back. Or when he got back, as the case may be. He was hoping for the former, with every wire in his yellow plated form. He leaned towards her, eager for to know. To understand. He did not have to wait very long, her body language conveyed so much. Now if only she would speak to confirm it.

"You are all so peaceful, so close to each other. I do not feel like I am part of you. Nor will I ever be part of you," how truthful her words were she did not know, but she felt that they going to be everything. She wanted nothing more than for him to just walk away.

"Then why did you come to Earth?"

Silence filled the night around them, her optics focused upon his own. She didn't know how to answer his query. And his nerve to ask it caused her to think back to their conversations while she was under Ratchet's care. Most of their conversations consisted of procedures that were being done, even though he often regaled her with stories. Telling her of the battle with the Decepticon known as Megatron, of his relationship with Sam. The loss of their close friend, Jazz. She lowered her gaze to the ground, counting the grains of sand.

Bumblebee leaned away from her, he had an incoming message from Optimus.

_Bumblebee, bring her back to the hanger._

_I don't think she will come with me._

_Keep trying. _

_Yes, Optimus._

He turned on his lights, his optics scanning over the area for anything that could cause a problem. He found a few snakes in the area, nothing that would harm them.

"Enigma?" he waited for her to look up at him, when she didn't he reached out and lifted her head. Something wasn't right, he felt like he had to protect her, from everything. He came to the conclusion that it was because of how damaged she was first found by them. He wondered if the others felt the same urge to protect the femme as he did. "It is getting late, we should go back."

"It is not my intention to go back, Bumblebee," in a fluid motion she was standing up, her smallest gun trained on him as her battle plates slid into place. She didn't want to harm him, but if push came to shove, she would. She felt pain, her own actions going against everything that she knew, that she was a part of. She pushed the feelings away as he got to his feet. He looked at her in pain, how could she do this?

"I do not understand," he said while simultaneously sending a message to his fellow Autobots. He had the feelings that this was going to end very badly, no matter what happened. He raised his hands in submission, praying to Primus that she would put her gun away. When she didn't, he spoke again.

"Where will you go?"

"I do not know, but I can not be around you," she lower her gun slightly, her processors racing as she thought of her way out. It would be rather simple for her to disable him then disappear; much like she did early while under Ironhide's watch. She watched him, and he watched her. Neither one of them moving, trying to size up the others intentions before acting. Each one of them had been trained to be a spy, however neither one relished the idea of harming the other, but Enigma had made the decision.

She grabbed Bumblebee by the shoulder and flung him to the ground, his own reflexes causing him to snag her hand pulling her down on top of him. From the outside it would have appear to be rather harmless, however with their training it turned into a battle. Bumblebee fought to keep Enigma off him, while trying to keep her with him. It was proving to be more difficult than he had imagined.

She was grabbing at the small area of exposed wires just below his face plates. Her fingers sending sparks through him, rippling from his spark. He could push her away only to have to pull her back again when she got to far away from him. He had to keep her there until the others arrived. He refused to fight at his full abilities, if he harmed her he would…he didn't know what he would do, although it would most likely require the others to step in. And Primus help him if Ratchet was the one to prevent him from doing harm to himself.

He grappled with her, his hesitation in battle giving her all the chance she needed. She jumped upon the opening and targeted his vocal processors, know that the damage she inflicted could most likely ruin his chances of speaking ever again. She regretted harming him, causing her guard to slip away, allowing him to get the better of her. He pinned her in the sand, one canon trained on her while his other arm held her into place. Already he felt like a monster, no better than a Decepticon, fighting with a femme. But he had to keep her there, he had to follow orders from Optimus. Just as the Autobot leaders name crossed his processors he rolled into view. Enigma whined under him, causing him twitch in sympathy. Why did she have to fight with him? Was she really that unhappy being a part of them?

Enigma did the only thing left to her; she offlined herself. Admittedly it wasn't her best surrender, but what was left? Going with them willingly, allowing them to keep her locked away. No, she would disappear again, doing what she did best to keep herself alive.

"What is going on?" Optimus demanded pulling Bumblebee off of Enigma as soon as he had shifted from his alt-form. He held Bumblebee at arms length, his optics searching the younger bots. He turned his attention to Enigma who was being lifted upwards by Ratchet. Ironhide was hanging back, he felt that his presence wouldn't help the situation any. He couldn't help but wonder which one of them had started the argument. He doubted that 'bee would have struck her first; he wasn't too sure about the femme. He looked at 'bee in wonder, walking over to him and placing a large hand on his shoulder.

He didn't need to say anything, nor did he desire to say anything. Optimus looked at Ratchet then back at the yellow bot who seemed to be on the verge of crying. Bumblebee was staring at Enigma and Ratchet, concern clear upon his face. His silence was beginning to get on his nerves however, he wanted answers.

"She has barely been touched," murmured the CMO as he scanned her for damages, proving that Bumblebee had indeed held back as much as he thought he did. The CMO looked over his shoulder at the only bot with recent damage and stood up; leaving Enigma in the sand. He scanned the small yellow bot, pinpointing the most severe and oddly enough the only damage upon him in moments.

"You're vocal processors have taken a lot of damage." His voice was soft, almost grief ridden for 'bee's loss. They all looked at him sadly, he was just beginning to get his voice back and now the femme had taken it from him. Bumblebee moved away from them, and knelt down next to Enigma, laying a hand on her arm. He felt so wrong, so lost in his own processors. Was this how Sam felt towards his family, the strong urge to protect them no matter what, even if that meant causing them harm?

"_What are we going to do with you?"_ he said via link, even if he wasn't actually talking to them, he thought that the other Autobots had more of a right to hear him than she did. She attacked him, even if she was only just trying to protect herself, and possibly them by running away. He glanced over his shoulder at Optimus, Ironhide and Ratchet before lifting Enigma into his arms. He was going to take her back to the hanger, just as he was ordered to do. He began walking, everything was blur to him but he couldn't stop walking. He had to get her back one way or the other.

Ironhide watched him leave for a few moments before speaking, "What are we going to do with her, Optimus. She can't be trusted."

"I do not know, but we must figure it out quickly, NEST is growing impatient and refusing to understand how delicate she is."

At which point Ratchet spoke up, saying what they all knew to be true. "Even we don't understand how delicate she truly is. Perhaps Bumblebee does, but he is not going to talk to us. You can see it."

Optimus sighed, he had no real choice but to allow NEST to get a hold of her, although if they did who knew the questions she would raise, the doubt that would blossom from her attempts at leaving. He forced his optics off of Bumblebee's retreating figure, "We must protect the humans and ourselves at all costs. But I fear that we must also protect her from herself." Ironhide and Ratchet nodded solemnly. "Roll out."

They shifted back to their alt-forms and drove out of the desert, taking the longest way they possibly could back to the hanger. Hoping to allow the two small bots time together, perhaps Bumblebee could get her to open up to him. And them in time.


	6. Chapter 6: Temper, temper

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformer, if I did I wouldn't be writing fanfictions. -chuckle- **

**Author Notes: I aplogize if Lennox and Epps seem a bit out of character. I don't have a whole lot of experience writing them, so please bear with me. As always, read and enjoy. **

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Major Lennox was not having a good day, neither were the men in his unit. They had been trying for weeks to get into the hanger that the Autobots called home. And it had been more difficult than they had expected. They were hiding something, something that had cost a few hundred grand in tax-payers money. Needless to say, they weren't happy with the most recent development, nor with the blunt refusals of entry that Optimus was giving them. But now that it was empty they had all the invitation they needed to look around.

They walked in the front door, M-90's at the ready as they searched, unknowing what they were looking for. But they would know if it they found it. Wouldn't they? They spun back towards the door, something wasn't right. A very large shadow had just crossed the doors, only their alien friends were that tall. Epps moved into the shadows as Lennox disappeared into the ones opposite him; they moved towards the doors.

Two blasts of light filled the insides of the hanger, followed closely by two very large and very close explosions. Both Epps and Lennox were sent flying from their hiding places, when they finally shook the spots from their eyes they found themselves staring down the barrels of Ironhide's canons. They dropped their M-90's to the ground, it was very sobering to have a robot glare you down, not the mention the fact that the robot in question had just fired upon you.

"You shouldn't be here," growled Ironhide as he put away his canons with slow deliberation. He knew just how to scare the humans, even if he didn't want to. Well, okay, he did want to scare them. And best of all he had been given permission to scare the living crap out of them. He looked over his shoulder as Ratchet and Optimus walked in, obvious smirks on their faces. The latter knelt down, his light blue optics staring into the eyes of the men. He wanted to say a few things, but his mind was racked with more important queries. Where were Bumblebee and Enigma?

"Mighty-morphing, crazy-fuckers," Epps said bending down to pick up his gun, when he returned to a standing position he discovered quite a few people staring at him.

"I think that it would be wise for you to come with me," said Optimus as he moved pass them, going deeper into the hanger, moving past the most recent blast holes. He took them into the med bay, all the while looking for signs of Bumblebee and Enigma. Everything pointed to them being absent, Optimus had felt sure that the young bot would have returned already. Unless something had happened; Enigma could have caused more trouble for him. Only a few things could have possibly kept them away.

Major Lennox and Master Sergeant Epps felt as if they were about to be shot down, they had never seen the Autobots acting so strangely. Optimus leaned against one of Ratchet's worktables and stared at the two humans. He didn't really want to tell them about the femme without her actually being there, but seeing as she wasn't there he was left with only a few options. He looked pass them at the remaining Autobots, they had begun to clean up the mess that Ironhide had created.

He didn't mean for the large black mech to actually fire upon the humans, but he had told him to get the invaders into the open without harming them. And he succeeded, so he wasn't going to complain. He only hoped that the CMO and the weapons specialist could get alone until he was done. He looked back down at them.

"Would you mind explaining what the hell is going on?" Lennox demanded, wishing that he had his M-90 to emphases his point. He noticed the way Epps was looking at him, even he was equally surprised.

"We have been trying to determine how dangerous the situation may truly be."

"That's all you've been telling us. Now give us a straight answer, if you please."

"A femme has most recently landed on Earth, she is responsible for the damage to the highway. We have taken care of her as best we can, but she has been alone for much too long. Much like you when left alone for long periods of times, she has lost the ability to be around others. We have been trying to determine how safe the rest of Earth is going to be. She had proven to be most difficult around even us, she has just harmed Bumblebee."

He stopped talking, allowing the information to sink into the humans skulks. They seemed to get the picture rather quickly, which was more than he had hoped for. He rubbed the area on his head that could be his temple and closed his optics for a moment. The femme was creating more and more trouble for them, not to mention the little fact that both her and Bumblebee had gone missing. Where could they have gone?

"Where is 'bee and the femme now?" asked Epps.

Optimus looked rather sick, like he was about to under go one of Ratchet's system checks. He remained silent allowing the two military men to work it out for themselves. And apparently they came to their conclusion quickly. They turned to look at the other two Autobots as they walked into the room. Ironhide leaned next to Optimus while Ratchet began to organize one of his many worktables. The two men looked at each of them.

"Go back to your houses and let us deal with this," Prime said, he appeared to be rather upset, along with the others. Lennox and Epps nodded, going against their better judgment and walked out of the hanger after picking up the remaining gun.

When they were a good distance away Major Lennox turned to look at his friend. "'Mighty-morphing crazy-fuckers'?"

"Shut up. He scared you too," came a very surly reply from a very surly black man. The got into the truck waiting for them and drove away. Each of them trying to figure out all the possible locations of the missing camaro. Sam was in for visit.

When they pulled up in front of the Witwicky household they discovered a disgruntled Sam on the front steps, Mojo sitting next to him. Who promptly started barking at the two men as they walked towards him. They came to a stop, Sam looked up at them, something was clearly wrong.

"Let me guess, you guys are here looking for 'bee right?"

"Yeah, any ideas?"

"He flew past about an hour ago, right after a bike." he paused, they both seemed to be keeping something from him, something very important and concerning his car and best friend. "What's going on?"

"We don't know but the big man seems to think that keeping a secret is a good idea," replied Lennox with a sigh. If Sam didn't know then they could be anywhere, although he did give them a rather good piece of information. It was in all likely hood that Bumblebee was chasing after the femme.

"What did the bike look like, Sam?"

"I don't know, grey and blue with a black frame."

"What kind?"

"I don't know, but it was rather large you know what I mean. Larger than it should have been for a bike."

"Which way were they going?" asked Epps, looking rather eager to get the femme back into safe hands.

"Bee said something about a lake."

"Thanks," called Epps as they both raced back to the truck, now all they had to do was find a certain yellow and black camaro before the Autobots. And with Sam's description they had something to go on., how many 'large' bikes could there be in LA after all.

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Optimus looked at Ratchet, the medic was obviously lost in thought but he needed to know how bad the damage truly was.

He began to speak, then paused Ironhide was shaking his head in a manor that one could only assume meant to shut the frag up. And he did, he stopped what he was doing opting to watch as his CMO busied himself. It was unwise for either of the two remaining mechs to say anything, for if they did they might find themselves on the receiving end of a beating. Or they might end up being welded to a table by the aft plate. The possibilities were endless when it came to the medics temper.

"Slag it! He was just beginning to get back to normal!" each word was emphasized with a loud thud, which was caused by whatever tool Ratchet had chosen to throw. At the moment both Ironhide and Optimus Prime were retreating from the area. They froze however when the CMO spun around, welding tool in hand.

"I'm going to weld that glitchin' femme to the table!"

Ironhide shoved Prime in his hastiness to get out of the way, causing the large mech to stumble. He caught himself on the edge of a worktable, knocking it over. Which in turn caused the already testy medic to snap. He had it, after all the work he had put into the femme this is how she repays him, by not only insulting him but harming the one bot who had trusted. She might be having trouble but that didn't mean she had to go and…and rip out Bumblebee's vocal processors! She was going to be in for a world of trouble when she returned. If she returned that is, hopefully 'bee would be able to get back to them as well. It wasn't like the small bot to just go missing. Something was really wrong.

Ratchet grabbed Optimus, pulling him to his feet and slung him unceremoniously out of the med bay and crashing into an already chuckling Ironhide. He slammed closed the doors, from which loud banging and the occasional Cybertronian swear could be heard. Both of the remaining mechs then decided that it was a very good idea for both of them to begin searching for the missing members of their party. They knew that it wasn't a good idea to bring the femme known as Enigma back to the hanger, but where else could they go?

"Optimus," Ironhide said motioning towards the object that was moving towards them. "It's Lennox."

"Let's move, no human should be around Ratch," said the Autobot leader shifting into his alt-form, the cab of a semi. Ironhide followed suit, both of them driving towards the ever closer black SUV. When they skidded to a stop both Lennox and Epps exited the truck and stood before them.

"Sam saw Bumblebee chasing after a motorcycle. Could that be your missing femme?"

"Yes. Which direction were they headed?"

"Knew we forgot something," joked Epps, it was completely lost on the two alien robots. "Looked to be headed towards the lake. At least that's what Sam thought Bumblebee told him."

"Bumblebee told him?" Optimus was obviously sketpical of that fact.

"Yeah, you know using that radio of his. Look we didn't stick around to get all the details. Are we going to get them or not."

Major Lennox was getting annoyed, either they were stupid on purpose, or they had been acting that way just to annoy him. Ironhide opened his doors allowing their human companions to get in, they looked back at the hanger. Apparently something had blown up, and it wasn't Ratchet.

"Roll out."

Ironhide quickly sped off after Optimus ignoring the questions and shouts coming from within his cab. He really didn't want to explain it to them, nor did he want to be the one to enter first when they returned. In fact it would most likely be unwise for anyone to go near Ratch until further notice. He might be a pacifist but when his tempter got the best of him. It was legendary.


	7. Chapter 7: Points of Authority

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Transformers, and probably never will.

**Author's Notes:** I would like to aplogize for taking so long, but you are going to be rewarded. I think this might be one of my best chapters, but I shall leave that up to you, the faithful reader.

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Bumblebee carried for a few miles before she stirred again, he didn't stop. In no way was he going to let her go now. He had a lot to say to her, and now he couldn't say them. He was conflicted however; he both hated her for attacking him and understood that she was lost. He had been lost after he lost his voice, alone trying to figure out how to communicate with his friends. They didn't understand, no matter how much they said they did. Even if they turned off their vocal processors for an orn or two. They could turn them back on, he couldn't. He hated them before he started using his radio. So, quite possibly, he could understand what she felt, what it was that she was going through.

Even if she wouldn't let him explain it to her, and now he couldn't even do that. Unless he linked with her, assuming that she would let him. And judging by the way she was currently being treated that wasn't about to happen. He came to a stop when her optics came back on, a scowl on her face, he glared back down at her, his battle plates sliding into place. He lower her to the ground, daring her to do something.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked picking herself up and placing her hands on her hips so that she resembled a human female. He flinched, he knew that stance, Sam had been on the receiving end of it multiple times and it was never good. He recovered quickly, taking a defensive position.

She continued to stare at him, nearly ready to demand that he speak before she remembered what she had done. She regretted it, but it was the only thing she could think of. Surely the medic would be able to repair it. She only wanted to be allowed to get away from him, from them. She didn't understand everything that she was feeling. She wanted to apologize for her actions, to let him know that it was nothing personal. She would have done the say thing to any of the others. Then again one of the others might not have held back, they could have over powered faster than Bumblebee had.

"You could have allowed the others to take me back," she said softly, taking a few steps away from him. So very ready to turn tailpipe and disappear. She waited for the best moment, it wasn't forthcoming.

He admitted it to himself, the truth burning in his mind. He knew what he had to say. "I must be protective, you cannot be reckless."

Her response was not the one he was looking for, she shifted into her alt-form drove around him a few times before taking off. He watched her go before shifting into his own alt-form and speeding after her. Was she playing games with him now, making him chase after her. What reason could she possibly have to be provoking him like this.

Did he really just tell her that he cared, that he wanted to protect her? No, what reason could he possibly have to be protective. She had insulted, run away, and hurt them. And now she was…flirting with one of them? Completely impossible, but she was a femme so it was only natural for her programming to take over at some point. Although why she was attracted to the small yellow bot was beyond her for the moment. All she really knew was that he wanted to protect her; she wasn't going to make it easy on him.

"_Enigma, where are you leading me?"_

The gentle voice that had been speaking to her during those weeks on the table was back, he sounded amused.

"_I'm not leading you anywhere. You just happen to be following me."_ came the chuckling reply, her engines roared as she skidded onto the paved road. A few horns blared at them as they sped up, a yellow and black camaro next to a blue and grey Harley Davison. She wanted to loss him, but she was having fun now. Could she be like this around the others, be like a normal femme. Did she actually have feelings for him, did she want to be with him and his friends? He was beginning to win her over now, make her see that being around others wasn't a bad thing, that it was needed in order to survive. She wondered how long she could continue to lead him around before he got wise.

He was going out on a limb now, if he could get her to play, to loosen her up a bit. However he wasn't given the chance to suggest anything, she spoke quickly.

"_Why don't you just go away."_

"Or take a buggy ride to the lake?" he said in response, thankful for his unlimited access to the world wide web. She couldn't look at him, but he could tell that she wanted to from the way she slowed down. Pulling off to the side of the road he waited for her, it wasn't a long wait. After she had came to a stop he spoke again.

"I challenge you to a race to the lake." He revved his engines to prove his desire. He would set the terms hit, but he was confident in himself.

"Why do you wish to race?"

"_I want to make a deal."_

She revved her own engines, it would be a good chance for her to test out her systems. She waited for him to continue.

"_If I win you come back to the hanger and never run off again. If I lose you get to leave, and I promise not to follow you.."_ He would do what ever it took to get to her agree, he only hoped that she wouldn't notice the loop hole he had created. The others could follow her all they wanted, besides he could speak for them, or for himself. But that was besides the point at the moment. He waited, the silence she was creating was starting to get to him.

"You have yourself a deal, Bumblebee."

"GO!" he blasted over his radio, dirt flying up behind him as he left her there dazed and confused. After a few seconds she tore off after him, creating her own cloud of dust. She accessed a map of the area, finding the fastest route to the lake; when it came up she discovered that it lead her through a part of town known as the suburbs. She figured that Bumblebee would be going the same way, and so she sped up more, passing cars and other vehicles.

When she was finally able to pass the yellow camaro in front of her noticed that he seemed to slow down a bit. In that moment she felt anger and contempt. How dare he think that she couldn't beat him fairly, it was bad enough that he hadn't fought back earlier. But now, when the race would determine her fate. She hated him for that, what could she possibly due to get him to actually race. She slammed on her brakes, nearly causing him to rear-end her. Laughing she sped back up, hoping that that was enough to get his engines really going.

It was, he sped up, inching ever closer to her rear tire. He wasn't going to pass her just yet. He recognized the street they had just turned onto, and turned his radio up, hoping that Sam was outside. And indeed he was in the front yard, he looked very displeased as his car roared down the street.

"Bumblebee, where are you going?!" he yelled running after the camaro.

"But we are heading towards the lake…" was the only reply he got before his car once again disappeared from sight. Disgruntled he walked back to the front porch and sat down, his small dog yapping excitedly at him.

Bumblebee sped up and passed the blue and grey Harley Davison without a second thought, he might have been going easy on her before, but not now. He wanted Sam to see him chasing after her, and to tell him where he was going, knowing full well that sooner or later an Autobot would come to call. He looked back at Enigma in his rear view mirror to find her right on his aft. He couldn't do much more than keep her from passing him at this point, he was at his limit. Luckily though the lake was starting to come into view.

Enigma finally felt challenged by the mech, and she gave it her all to beat him, but it wasn't enough. She came skidding to a stop only seconds after he did. His joy clear as he honked and blasted music through his speakers. She flashed her high beams at him trying to get him to stop celebrating. It was quite a few minutes before he did so, during this time she contented herself to explore around the lake. It wasn't like she was going to go very far. Although, she noted, she could have easily left him at the lake during his victory 'dance'.

Bumblebee scanned the area for humans, he found a few on the other side, so they were relatively safe from being spotted. He had watched Enigma as she wandered around, it was obvious that she wanted to keep moving, to get away from them. He couldn't figure out why she didn't run while he was distracted. The only answer he came to was that she was going to keep her word. He drove around to a spot away from the main area, Enigma followed him taking in everything that she could because her mind told her that it would be her last chance to do so.

Bumblebee spoke to her via link, of course, "_Enigma, are you ready to be with the rest of us?"_

He felt sad for her now that he was once again looking at her, knowing that she was near death when they found her. And that all she knew was being alone. He was going to save her, bring her back from the place she was in, he had to. No one else offered to be there for her, not even the eldest of them. He wondered how Optimus would have handled her had he left her there. Or Ironhide. Or Ratchet.

Well, he figured the latter would have taken care of her, then most likely done something to prevent her from attacking them again. Even if it meant welding her to a table. He hoped that his friend wouldn't do such a thing to her. He dimmed his lights and began to wonder what was going on in the femme processors.

She needed to know that he understood, now was probably the best time for her know.

"_I do understand, Enigma."_

She would have glared at him had she not been in her alt-form, he didn't understand it at all. _"How could you even begin to fathom what this feels like?"_ Her anger rang clear in his head. He subconsciously backed up a few inches.

"_You still fear me."_ she stated coolly, she had thought that the mech would have realized that she only fights for herself, but then again he had never seen her fight except for when she attacked him. Which wasn't a very good example of how passive she really was.

"_Yes. But that is not what I want to tell you."_

"_Then go on, before I get bored."_

They both chuckled, or at least as best two alien robots are able to chuckle, in sounded more like a sputter than anything else.

"_I have felt the same loneliness that you do. When my vocal processor where originally damaged during battle. None of the others could understand how it had effected me until I began to use sound bytes. They all knew me as the bubbly one, the high spirit. But without my voice I wasn't able to be so,"_ he paused, should he go on, _"I also lost both of my legs, Ratchet is an amazing mech. You should trust him like you trust me. They only want what is best for you and the rest of us."_

He felt low, like he was sinking, her voice pulled him up again. "I have taken it away again…I am sorry."

"Wanna go for a drive?" he moved towards her slightly, hoping that she understood how he felt. He didn't want her to be sorry for him, the others would do that. He wanted her to be happy, to be comfortable around him. Her expression would have been one of confusion and happiness, she loved the idea of going for a drive and hoped that it would be something she was able to do. Even though she knew, deep down in her spark that it wasn't likely due to her most recent actions. Unless the yellow mech stood up for her or pleaded her case.

"As long you lead," she said, a few moments later they were driving away from the lake. It could be said that they had struck a friendship. However the truth was that Enigma was testing her limits, while pushing aside everything that she knew for a few moments of kindness. For she didn't know how long they would last once they got back to the hanger. All she knew was herself and the horrors she had seen on Cybertron before she left. No matter what she did the images of the others were imprinted upon her memory, she could see them every time she shut down, or went into a recharge.

She could see the younglings being crushed, and the femmes who rushed to save them ripped apart. She saw the countless empty shells and wasted Energon that spilled from the broken bodies. She had tried to save a youngling when she left, attempting to bring him with her into the vastness of space. The young bot had survived leaving the atmosphere only to die in her arms a few vorns later from the cold. She was forced to release his young body, she beat herself up for her own foolishness, for believing that she could save him. What she considered worse however, was that she would never be able to tell the others what she saw.

They wouldn't possibly be able to fathom how much she suffered during those centuries alone among the stars and planets. She wanted nothing more than to create new memories, to over write the ones that haunted her even now as she drove along side Bumblebee.

She wasn't paying attention to where they were going, and she felt as if he wasn't either, they just seemed to going which ever direction he felt like going. She didn't understand it, but she wasn't going to question it, if this is what going for a drive meant then she was fully enjoying. At least until a purple Peterbilt, and black GMC Topkick 4x4 performed a u-turn and began to follow them. She began to speed up, she didn't know any of the others alt-forms aside from 'bee. Who at the very moment she began to pass him began to slow down.

He and the others sped off after her, he was trying to get a link established with her, their earlier connection dropped. When he finally got a connection however, Enigma wasn't listening, or she was and just didn't care.

"_Enigma! It is Optimus and Ironhide! They have just been looking for us."_

"_How do you know it is them and not some other…?"_

"_Because I am being yelled at,"_ even if he wasn't actually using his voice, his light hearted tone was evident, and cause enough for her. She too began to slow down and pull off onto a side street. The very side street where Sam and Mikaela had first met the Autobots. After they all came to stop Optimus shifted back into his robotic form, displeasure clear upon his face plates. Lennox and Epps jumped out of the black GMC, M-90's slung to their backs. Ironhide and Bumblebee both followed his example, the former looking rather angry at the two of them as well. Enigma slowly shifted back, she knew something bad was going to happen. She could see it as clearly as she could see her own hand.

"Bumblebee, what were you thinking? You should have taken her back to the hanger," asked Optimus as he looked down at the young mech.

The young mech in question bowed his head while he searched for a good response, "Oh, I don't know. I thought we could just go for a drive." He was being, what Sam called, a smart ass. They all stared at him, did he really just say that to Prime. No, not their little 'bee, impossible, he would never speak to any of them like that.

Then they turned to Enigma, as if she would possibly have a better answer, one that made more sense than Bumblebee's obvious display rebellion. Had she damaged more than his voice during their little fight in the sand? No, he had just had enough. She deserved to be treated with more care, yes, they had been keeping her away from the humans, but it was clearly not the way to go.

"Okay, yeah, excuse me, but before you guys start doing whatever it is you have planned. Would you mind explained who the HELL that is?!" yelled Master Sergeant Epps pointing towards Enigma, earning him a nod from Major Lennox.

Optimus had completely forgotten their tag-a-longs, with a robotic sigh he looked at them. He would deal with Bumblebee later. Right now he had to introduce the humans to potentially dangerous femme bot with canons like Ironhide's and the temper of Ratchet. Needless to say he was worried for every party involved in the forth coming events. He looked at Enigma, who seemed to be more interested in her surrounding than the rest of them, although what the femme was thinking was beyond him.

"Major Lennox, this is Enigma, a femme bot from our home planet of Cybertron. She has travel a great distance to be with us. However she is having some difficulty adjusting to our company." He continued to look at her, until finally her blue optics met his, he could see pain in her eyes (he recognized it from his own.)

"Right, you already told us that little tid bit. What we want to know is why you have hiding her, Optimus," it was Lennox who posed this question to the large purple mech. However it was Enigma that answered him, causing all of them to jump slightly.

"I am not safe. When I was first discovered by them I turned my canons on them. And then did so again after they had returned my systems to normal. I have wounded one of them in my attempts to escape from them, and the memories running in my processors. I am not safe to be around."

"That's not true!" shouted Bumblebee, earning him a few glares, two to be exact, and three questioning gazes.

"…I trust you as much as I trust anybody," he said, lowering his head sadly. Hoping that his trust in her wasn't fool hearty, he could hear their doubt.

Enigma wanted to reach out to him, to let him know that she trust him as well, but she felt that if she did move she would be looking down the barrel of someone's weapon. Which would trigger her to ready her own, and from there it would spell disaster. Instead she chose her words carefully, weighing them in her mind before allowing them to pass through her lips.

"After the way I have treated you, you should not. But I trust you as well and give my word here before these humans that I am no more a threat to you."

"You're promise means little to me, Enigma, seeing as how you have much to learn about Earth and our customs here," Optimus was being hard on her, if she was going to learn she might as well begin now. She had to learn to respect authority and those it lied with.

"Okay, well now that we all know each other, I think it's time we all got back to where we need to be," Major Lennox said breaking the tension of the night. None of them made a move; Bumblebee was shifting his gaze between Optimus and Enigma, Ironhide wasn't taking his optics off the femme (not after the stunt she pulled earlier), Optimus was also watching the femme, while Enigma seemed to be staring into space.

She was in fact, trying to force herself to become submissive. She knew that was the only way she was going to survive living with them. They remained in the silence for what seemed like hours until Optimus spoke.

"Autobots, roll out."

Enigma was the last to shift back into her alt-form, and the last one to leave the side street after the two men had gotten into Ironhide. They drove back to the hanger in complete radio silence, not even Bumblebee was willing to break this silence. It was the dangerous kind of silence, the one where the wrong word could send the world as you know it spinning into oblivion.

* * *

**Quotes used by Bumblebee*:** _Jackie Chan Adventures, Medicine Woman, Family Guy, REPO! The Genetic Opera, Cars, Lost Highway, Alias,_ and _24._

***** The order of the quotes in the listing does not reflect the order in which they were used. Thank you.


	8. Chapter 8: Until you Find it

**Disclaimer:** I in no way shape or form own Transformers.

**Author Note:** I am so sorry that this took so long, but for a while my muses had run off. I got them back, and think that I more than made up for it. And as a personal triumph, I broke 20k.

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**One week later**

Enigma was sneaking around the med bay with Ironhide, Bumblebee was keeping Ratchet busy in the next room with odd radio snippets and fragments of television shows. They could tell that their time was running out, so with a few minor adjustments they rushed out through the back. Leaving all of the mechs tools haphazardly laying around, and his scanner hanging from the rafters. They knew that it would end with them being chased down and harmed, or waking up after a recharge to discover that they were now on the ceiling. As the weapons specialist could attest to that.

They waited at the front entrance for their last partner in crime to get out of danger.

"Mother fraggin' slagheads!"

He wasn't so lucky, no sooner than Ratchet pushed pass him was he grabbed by the scruff bar and dragged into the med bay. He screamed, using an audio file from one of the many human movies at his disposal. Then as suddenly as his scream started, it was gone. Ironhide looked at Enigma, who looked right back at him. Their optics wide with concern for the small yellow bot and their own forms.

"I'm going to recycle those bit-brains!"

They back up, only to run into Optimus Prime, he too had heard the yellow mech scream. He looked down at them, trying very hard to keep a smile off his face. He was glad to see that the femme was starting to act like a normal part of them now, a mischievous part at that. He wasn't the least bit surprised to see that Ironhide was in on the fun at the expense of his medical officer.

"Catching a nova are we?"

"I don't know what you are talking about," Enigma said side stepping around him, Ironhide seemed to have a smile on his faceplate. He loved to play around with Ratch, even if the consequences were greater than the prank itself. He felt a little bit of pity for the femme, she had no idea how the CMO reacted to pranks.

"Now would be the right time for you to run, 'Nig," Ironhide said, using the nickname he had for her, as he watched Ratchet walk out of the hanger. He wasn't going to let 'bee get all the blame. Nor would he let Enigma take the fall for it either, even if she had been the one to plan most of it. He had to hand it to her, she really knew how to plan, down to the last detail. He was proud to consider her a friend, even if he had a case of canon envy.

"No, we cannot allow Bumblebee to take the blame for us." She moved to stand back in front of Optimus.

The Autobot leader could have sworn to have seen pride on her face, which was mirrored by Ironhide. They waited for Ratchet to reach them, neither one of them quite ready for the punishment that they would receive for messing up his order. And for placing his much needed tool out of his reach.

"You stupid knock-offs, you're just ornaments. You rusty pieces of scrap. I'm going to recycle your half-clocked afts," he reached out to grab them, but they moved away from him and towards the hanger. Might as well except their fate. Ratchet turned to follow them, his optics narrow and angry. Optimus watched them go with an expression of mild amusement. He would help them later once the medical bot had calmed down some.

Upon entering the med bay they discovered Bumblebee laying in a heap on the floor, if the blood could have drained from their faces it would have. They turned back to face Ratchet, but neither one of them were fast enough. They fell to the floor.

Ratchet moved quickly and deftly, he had things to do and revenge might have been on the top of his list, but it wasn't going to help them any. It would most likely hold them back for some time, but it would be worth it. He picked up his blow torch and got to work. When he finished his work he began to reorganize his equipment. He would get his scanner down later.

Optimus walked into the med bay a few hours later, wondering just what had happened to his scout and weapons specialist. He found Ratchet bent over Bumblebee, a tool in hand.

"Don't take it too far, Ratchet."

"I was just getting them up, Optimus," replied the mech as he stood up, his optics conveying untold joy as he watched the Autobots on the floor come back to their senses.

"What did ya do, Ratch, mess with my canons again?" he tried to get up, finding that his back end was heavier than it should have been. And was protesting quite loudly. He looked over one of his large black shoulders to come face to face with Enigma. As if in tune with each other they looked over their other shoulder, indeed Bumblebee was there and looking rather troubled. Collectively they looked at Ratchet who was looking rather pleased with himself.

The silence in the med bay was palpable and seemed to ring in their heads.

"I do believe that we are welded together…" Enigma stated, earning her quite a stares.

"Must you state the obvious?" grunted Ironhide as he, once again, tried to get himself upright. This time however, the two mechs on either side of him were into the effort. They managed to get up, Enigma was dangling the few feet that she lacked, while Bumblebee was forced onto the tips of his metal feet. Leaving Ironhide with their full combined weight. He looked at Optimus, who currently had his back to them, it wasn't hard to tell that the Autobot leader was trying and failing to keep his laughter hidden.

Ratchet was being much more blunt in his enjoyment. He then turned his back on them and walked out of the hanger. Optimus followed him, leaving the welded mechs to their own devices, forcing them to figure out how they could move.

"I recall stating that I wished to bond with you more…but this is just a little too much bonding."

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Ironhide had decided early that morning that he was going to take Enigma to the range, to help her get back into the swing of things. And teach her more fighting techniques. He had asked her how she managed to destroy the Decepticon when she first arrived but her recollection lacked something to be desired. So he was going to help her, whether she liked it or now. And who knew, maybe the femme could teach him a thing or two as well. She wasn't programmed for battle, but she certainly knew what to do when it came to playing dirty.

As he had learned when he made a small comment about how short she was compared to the other femmes he remembered. In fact the last thing he remembered about that day was seeing her flying at him, then he woke up in the med bay a laughing Ratchet bent over him.

He transformed back into his bi-pedal form and watched as she did the same. He turned to look at the military men around them, they seemed ready for a little blasting as well. Smiles on their faces as they walked towards the bunker, Major Lennox seemed to be the happiest of them all. And he was the only one to remain behind. Ironhide would have questioned him, but felt that the man wanted to speak with them before allowing them free run of the range.

"Glad to see you're out and about Enigma," he touched the femmes leg before making a bee line to join his comrades.

"I am glad to be here as well…" she whispered, knowing that only the black bot beside her would hear it.

He thought about giving her a reassuring pat on the shoulder, and didn't. He had a reputation to uphold and didn't want anyone to know that he had a soft spot for her. She reminded him of the femmes he had tried to protect once upon a time back on Cybertron. Pushing aside the thoughts he charged his canons, arms glowing with amber and blue power he walked away from the bunker.

Enigma followed his suit, charging up her own canon, which glowed with a neon blue power. She followed after him, eager to learn from the old weapons specialist. She knew that she had a lot to learn, and hoped that he would be able to teach her. If not she would have to ask one of the others, perhaps Bumblebee would be able to teach her some methods which would be better suited for her size. As much as she hated to admit it, her height held her back.

"Alright, lets work on long range attacks," he motioned towards a few tanks sitting motionless. She watched as he took aim and fired with both canons, a few moments later the tank flew into the air and landed in a pile of flaming scrap.

Stepping up next to him she began to take aim, and was stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

"Fix your stance, you'll fall over if you fire like this. Move your right leg back…Good. Now line up your arm with the tank."

She glanced at him as he took a step back and gave her a nod, turning back she focused her optics on the tank in the distance and fired. Much like the tank Ironhide had fired upon, this one flew up and landed in a pile of fire. Ironhide didn't know whether or not to have pride in the femme or not. For all he knew it was beginners luck.

"Again."

She fired again, reducing the already flaming tank into even more rubble. This time pride did wash over his face plates. So she was a fast learner, that was a very good thing, however it didn't explain why she was still so very odd when around them. He figured that she was still trying to get used to being around others, that she was still a little shell shocked from everything that she had seen back on their home planet.

They continued her lesson until the sky darkened and they were forced to leave by the likes of Major Lennox and his team. They might have been babysitters while on the Autobots were on the base but that didn't mean they had to spend twenty-four hours watching stuff get blown up.

When they got back to the hanger Enigma didn't transform back into her bi-pedal form, instead she kept on driving, leaving the rest of them in wonder. Where was it that she went every night? Did she still feel that uncomfortable around them, that she didn't trust them while she slept.

Enigma was only going a quarter of a mile away from the hanger, at that distance she didn't feel the pull as strongly. It was merely a dull throbbing in her spark instead of what seemed like the pull of a planet. She didn't know exactly what would cause such an odd feeling, which was the other reason that she left the hanger each night. To determine if she needed to consult with Ratchet or not.

She closed her optics and relaxed, letting the sounds of the night wash over her. The distance howling of animals, the roaring of cars, and the strange honking. Cracking open her optics she looked over her shoulder, a yellow camaro was rolling towards her. She didn't turn around, she didn't need to, he would either sit next to her, or…

That's when she felt it, it was growing stronger the pulling of her spark. She tried to figure out what it meant. Was it because of Bumblebee that she felt this way, this odd desire that she had refused to see before. Did he hold some key that would unlock even more within her. He had already managed to bring her out of her shell, and with out his voice. To which she was responsible for taking away.

_Enigma, why do you disappear each night?_ 'bee asked as he transformed and sat down next to her. He felt an odd pull in his spark, much like the one Enigma was feeling as well. However, being as young as he was he pushed it off until later. He would ask Ratchet about if it stayed for a long period of time.

"I come out here to think, the stillness is quite soothing. Especially after a day with Ironhide…" she said quietly, still lost in her own thoughts. Until she remembered something she was taught long ago; she remembered the older femmes speaking of spark mates and creating of younglings. She had pushed away the thought of a spark mate a long time ago, back when the battle for Cybertron began. How could something like that exist when there was so much suffering. She didn't know, however she was beginning to understand what her spark was telling her.

And she knew that it was completely out of the question, Bumblebee was the closest thing she had to family right now. Along with the others of course. She couldn't risk harming him more than she already had. Her processors were running different scenarios; none of them seemed desirable to her.

_Please come back to hanger. I…I feel bad knowing you are out here all night long._

She looked at him in surprise, he was worried about her? Not that surprising, but it was the way he had said it, or rather sent it that made her wonder.

"Then let us walk back, I am too tired to drive back," she stood up and began walking back, the yellow bot at her side. They didn't share any more words, neither one of them knew how the other was feeling, and the feeling in their sparks was making them uneasy. When they got back to the hanger they each went to their respective sleeping areas.

Optimus looked at Ratchet, concern clear upon his purple features. Ratchet couldn't offer anything, it was beyond him completely.

------------------

Enigma was sitting next to Optimus in a section of the hanger often used for meetings, as it was it was rather empty, sans the two the them. Ironhide was off patrolling, Bumblebee was with Sam and Ratchet was in his med bay doing whatever it was that he did.

Optimus was rather uncomfortable with what the femme was wanting to talk about, and had been pleading with her to ask one of the others. She had proven to be as thick headed as Ironhide, he couldn't get her change her mind, nor could he get away from her. So he had been forced to consent to their topic.

"I am afraid that I am…feeling a strange pull to Bumblebee. My spark seems to be under the impression that he is…" she didn't want to continue.

"That he could be your spark mate? I do not know what your spark has in mind for you, Enigma, but it wouldn't steer you wrong," he was horrible at things like this. Ratchet was the sensitive one, not him. Primus even Ironhide had more experience with spark bonding than he did.

"I have always felt pulls before, Optimus, but nothing like this. This is stronger, and much harder for me to ignore," she looked down at her hands, unsure as to whether or not to trust herself. Optimus placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Why would you ignore what your spark tells you. It lead you here, did it not?"

"Your message lead me hear, Optimus, not my spark."

"But without your spark you would not have been longing for us, or even been willing to pick up my message."

"Perhaps that is true."

"Is spark bonding such a terrible thing, it lasts through anything, even war from what I hear tell. And if Primus is telling you that your spark mate is near by then you should listen. It could be the very thing that saves us all. Love is a very powerful thing, Enigma."

"How is love powerful?"

"Love is what fuels the humans to fight, they love their planet and each other. So they would do anything to keep love from ending."

"What am I to do? I can not tell him of this…this longing."

"Are you so sure that he doesn't feel it as well?"

Enigma looked up, she hadn't thought about that. What if he did feel the same pull as she did? But if he did then why hadn't he said anything, made a comment? Was he just as scared as she was? Or more so? She didn't notice as Optimus got up and walked into the med bay, leaving her to her own thoughts.

Ratchet looked at him, "What's going on Optimus? Something wrong with Enigma?'

"Femmes are very strange, Ratchet," his reply was muffled by his hand as he sat down on the medics work table. The CMO gave him a pat on the leg before continuing his work. He knew better than to question Prime, and since the femme had not come to him, he would not push his leader for information.

A few hours later Ratchet looked up to discover Bumblebee walking towards, something was very clearly wrong. A wave of panic rushed over him but was gone just as quickly as it had appeared.

_I think there is something wrong with my spark, Ratchet!_

Bumblebee sat down on the work table and in seconds Ratchet was in front of him.

"What do you mean something is wrong with your spark?"

_I do not know, it feels like it is ready to burst from my chest. I am __**scared**__! What is wrong with me?!_

"Calm down, now let me take a look," said the medical bot in his most soothing tone possible. It was very unlikely that something was wrong with the young mechs spark, but he was going to check if only to keep him calm. He took out one of his scanners and searched for something, anything. Finding nothing that seemed out of place he looked the young bot in the optics.

"What does it feel like?" he asked gently, taking advantage of him being on the table and running a full systems check. Bumblebee was much to worried to really care so he barely noticed what the medic was doing.

_It is a pulling, and it get worst when I am near Enigma…_A flash of panic crossed his face, did she have something wrong with her as well. Did she have something transferable?

Ratchet stopped what he was doing, the scanner in his hand nearly falling to the ground. It wasn't completely impossible, just improbable. He thought back to when Prime had been on the same table as 'bee, was this what he meant when he said femmes were strange. Had she gone to their leader in question and consul. He didn't want to keep thinking about that, he needed to get to the bottom of this before Bumblebee freaked out even more.

"Bumblebee, I need you explain it more. What exactly does it feel like?"

The yellow mech tilted his head, how would that help?

"'bee?"

_My spark seems to want to be around her, for me to be close to her at all times. It is distracting me when I am with Sam. I cannot stop thinking about her, I worry about her when I am not around, or when she is off learning with Ironhide. I do not understand._

"I don't know how to explain this to you, Bumblebee." he paused, searching his data banks. It couldn't be that hard to explain spark bonding to him. Could it? "Do you have anything stored in your memory about spark bonding?"

There was a moment of complete silence while he searched. _Yes, I do._

"Good, then this won't be that difficult to explain then…You are feeling the pull of your spark mate. The femme that Primus wants you to be with, do not ask me how a spark mate is chosen, I don't know.

_Enigma is my spark mate? How do you know for sure, Ratchet?_

"I don't," he placed a hand on the young bots shoulder and leaned towards him, "You do." Then he turned and walked out of the med bay. Leaving Bumblebee to sort out what he was told much like Prime had done with Enigma.

----------

Enigma was sitting with Bumblebee in the med bay, she was keeping him company while they waited for Ratchet to return. The yellow bot had been called in for a check up, and then not long afterwards, the blue and grey femme had been called in as well. And naturally they had arrived at the same time which, had Optimus himself not sent them out on two very different patrols, he would have wondered exactly what they had been up to.

The two of them had been acting strangely around each other, either giving side ways glances or complete silence. And now that they were in the same room alone, it was only a matter of time before something happened. Or at least that was Ratchet's goal when he called them both in. As it was the CMO was lurking in the back room watching them, praying to Primus that they would just get it over with. It was becoming annoying, but who was he to complain. He had never seen any of them in such odd moods, and while it made working with them some times down right difficult, it also gave him hope.

Love hadn't died, there was still hope for them, still a chance a peace and understanding. Love was the only thing this mech believed in at the moment. He could see it between Sam and Mikaela, now he could see it between the two mechs sitting in his med bay. He leaned against the door frame slightly to shift into a more comfortable position.

"I am sorry for treating you like this Bumblebee, but I do not know any other way…" she trailed off.

"You're way off base."

"How am I off base? I have been treating you terribly as a friend."

"I haven't spoken…"

"What have you kept silent?"

"Love or something ignites in my veins," he was going past the point of no return, all his prayers were going to Primus that she felt the same pull he did.

Her silence was all the answer he needed, she didn't feel it. It was one sided and now he had said too much and she would treat him badly. However he couldn't be any further from the truth, and what she did next proved it as such.

She leaned forwards and placed her mouth to his, mimicking some of the humans she had seen on her patrols and in the movies that Mikaela had showed her. She leaned back, if either one of them could have blushed, they would have.

Ratchet couldn't believe what his optics were seeing, had the femme just…just kissed him. This was what he was hoping for wasn't it, for them to be happy and together. He shook himself out of his happy daze and forced himself to walk into the med bay.

"Don't start swapping paint in here. I still need to perfect a few things."

* * *

**Songs used by Bumblebee:** I won't say (I'm in love) from Hercules, and White Houses by Vanessa Carlton


	9. Chapter 9: Promises

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Transformers, I am merely borrowing them for shits and giggles.

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Ironhide growled as he took aim, Bumblebee and Enigma were a few paces ahead of him, their own canons burning with energy as they fired at the tanks. Optimus was standing near the rear with Ratchet the two of them were talking in hushed tones, using the canon blasts and explosions to mask their topic of conversation. Bumblebee and Enigma.

The two of them had been all but inseparable for the past four weeks; they were always seen together, or within close range. However the old mechs had yet to see any displays of affection between them, let alone anything to hint at their feelings. So either they were doing a great job at keeping it to themselves, or they did not know, or want, to go further than common knowledge. It confused them all, however the two mechs doing the confusing seemed to have gone back to being themselves.

Optimus looked over his shoulder when he heard his name called, "Autobots, cease fire."

"Prime, we just got wind of some Decepticons," huffed Lennox as he stared up at the large alien robot, he would never get used to this. The Autobot leader turned back to his team, he didn't want to send them all, but he had send some of them. Ironhide was his first choice. Then his processors clicked into something else, why didn't he send Enigma with him. The femme hadn't been included in any of the other recent battles.

He knew from watching her that she was skilled enough, and with Ironhide at her side she would be fine. He knew that the weapons specialist could more than handle himself in battle, and he also knew that the two of them had been trading secrets. He looked back at Lennox.

"Ironhide and Enigma shall be the ones going."

Sounds of protest came from over his shoulder, he ignored them. He knew who they were coming from, the only one of them with vocal problems. He didn't have time to explain it to the yellow mech, nor did he feel like he should explain it to him. This was something that he would have to get used to, Enigma was part of the team and it was her war as much as theirs.

"Autobots, transform and roll out."

Ironhide and Enigma transformed but stayed behind, as did Bumblebee, he wasn't going to leave her without a fight and she knew it. She would have looked at him but that was just a little complicated at the moment.

"Bumblebee, I shall be fine."

"I'll keep her safe 'Bee. You have this old mechs promise."

The yellow and black camaro revved in protest, not that he didn't trust their words, but he knew how battles could change things. How a simple tactic could end in destruction.

"You can't make promises all based upon tomorrow!" Savatage blared over his radio.

Enigma revved her own engine while Ironhide opened one of his doors to allow Lennox to enter. He drove off leaving the two mechs to sort it out. He knew that Prime and Ratchet hadn't left the base yet, Prime was rather peeved at the youngest of them for disobeying him.

"I will be back," whispered Enigma as she sped off, she didn't trust herself to stay there any longer with him.

Bumblebee watched her go, he was about ready to chase after her, demand that she stay behind, that she disobey Prime. But he knew that she wouldn't, and that if he even asked her to do so he would end up being placed under house arrest. And Sam needed him, but so did Enigma, he could feel it. He could feel that she was scared and nervous. It was all he could do not to go after her completely. He drove towards Optimus and Ratchet, his mood very sour. They left in silence, the young mech expecting an earful when they got back to the other hanger.

Ironhide was waiting for Enigma in the back of the plane, he didn't like to fly. If he was meant to fly Primus would have given him wings god damn it. As it was he was lucky enough to be able to keep himself calm as the rear hatch of the plane was closed and the plane began t rumble under his tires. He looked at Enigma, she had never been on a mission and so it was quite obvious that she was on a hair trigger. He wanted to give her reassurance but he some how doubted that she would be open to such things right now.

Lennox and his team where sitting at the sides of the plane chatting quietly, they should be going over tactics or determining who it was they were going after. Clearly Enigma felt this way as well, she transformed back into her robot form much to the dismay of the humans closest to her, Ironhide would have to teach her a few things, but he admired her guts.

"Enigma, there isn't enough room for this right no--"

"I believe that I have enough room thank you. Now do we have sighting of the Decepticon?" she was testy. She wanted to cause something pain, to destroy the robot stupid enough to trouble them just when things were beginning to get better. Just when she and Bumblebee were...she didn't know what they were. but it was something. And so much more than being friends. She pushed the thoughts of a certain yellow camaro from her processors and focused on what was at hand. She glanced at Ironhide, his alt-form was very impressive. He had certainly found one that suited him. Perhaps she would have to rethink hers when they returned.

"We don't have anything clear, but we think that it just one of them."

"There must be more, Decepticons wouldn't dare attack by themselves. They are cowards." grumbled Ironhide, he was going to have his say in this matter.

Enigma nodded, the only place a Decepticon would attack by themselves was Cybertron, and they already had complete control of the planet. She looked at the images Lennox had in his hands. She knew that form...Sideways. The 'con that she had come face to face with back on Cybertron.

She forced herself to remain calm, to keep her emotions from showing. She shifted back into her alt-form, when questioned she didn't respond. She was scared.

_Enigma, what is wrong?_

_It is nothing, Ironhide. _she answered just a bit too quickly.

_Don't lie to me, femme. Now what is wrong?_

_I know that Decepticon. I came face to face with him back on Cybertron._

_Then you should know how to defeat him._

_No, Ironhide, I don't. I...I don't want to talk about it. _She then turned off her com-link. Leaving the weapons specialist to shout and grumble at her. The team of military men looked between them cautiously, it was clear that something had just been shared between them and that it wasn't a something too pleasing. Lennox placed a hand on the side of Ironhide's form, to which the large mech revved his engines.

It sounded like a growl, causing him and the others to back away as much as they could in the confined space. It wasn't going to be a pleasant trip.

Enigma was lost in her own processors, going back to that day she had witnessed the death of the youngling and done nothing.

_//She was running back to her hideout, something told her that the younglings there were in trouble. As she rounded the corner she skidded to a stop. There was a Decepticon rampaging through them, picking them up and ripping them apart. She couldn't move even though the screams were calling to her, she couldn't help them. Her legs wouldn't move, nothing was working. She had completely froze up. She watched as the Decepticon threw down the lifeless form and turn to her, and evil glint in his eye as he began to walk towards her. _

_She managed to charge her canons before she forced herself into a run. She had to get away, to survive so she could come back and save what younglings were left. However she knew that it was unlikely, the 'con would have destroyed them all. She hid in the belly of a fallen Constructicon, hoping that it would hide her energy for the time being.//_

"Let's move. Enigma! Let's go!" yelled Lennox as he placed a hand on her seat, she freaked out for a nanosecond. She drove out of the plane and waited as Ironhide pulled up beside her. He was clearly still rather mad at her, he would just have to deal with it for now. They had more important things to worry about right now. She turned her com-link back on.

_I hope you never decide to pull that on Prime, 'Nig, _he said as he rolled down the road, a group of men in the bed of his trunk. She followed after him rather dejectedly. She was going to get an earful if he told Prime and she knew it.

She shifted back into her bi-pedal form and looked at Lennox, waiting for him to give her instructions. He didn't seem to be pleased with her actions either, but his anger she could deal with. It wasn't like she had to live with him any time soon.

"Alright, we know that he's around here somewhere, so let's keep it tight shall we? I want a search team up front with Enigma, Ironhide I want you with me."

Enigma walked forwards the search team looked at her carefully, it was clear that they would rather have an experienced mech at with them instead of the one they knew nothing about. They nodded and began their search for the Decepticon punk. Enigma herself was scanning everything, searching for anything that the mech might have come into contact with, hoping that it was just a fake, that it wasn't real. She wasn't ready to go back into battle just yet, maybe Optimus knew this and that was why he had been keeping her behind. But if it was then why did he send her now. Did he feel that she was ready for battle now, only after being a part of the team for a month, after learning so little from the weapons specialist.

Sure she knew how to keep herself from harm now, how to completely destroy a tank, but the tank didn't fire back. Didn't want to kill her. She would have preferred to actually train against one of the others, but that was unlikely given the way Ratchet and Optimus blew a gasket when she asked why they didn't. She stopped, charged one of her canons and stared straight ahead.

"Stop. He's there," she said pointing towards a building in the distance, she looked down at the humans, they hadn't pick anything up yet. Maybe she was losing it, but she doubted that. She crept ahead of them, scanning the area for anything that would give him away. Then she found him, it wasn't just Sideways. There was a group of Constructicons waiting for them to enter the clearing. She froze, and signaled for the humans to do the same.

_"We've got 'em. We've got four Decepticons."_

_"Either Intel is wrong, or we've been set up."_

_"Ironhide, what is going on?"_

_"We've got four Decepticons back here, just waiting for something. Do no engage until I say so. Got it?"_

_"Understood. Enigma out." _she waited_, _bouncing on her feet. Something was going to happen, she could feel it in the air, and judging by the way the humans were acting they knew it too. Although, she noted, it could just be because of me. She stopped bouncing and watched the humans while trying to listen to anything unnatural.

And that's when all hell broke lose. She turned back towards where Ironhide and the others were, she could hear gun and canon fire. She wanted to rush to their aid but as soon as she began to go back she was hit in the back. She flew forwards and landed on her back with a _**crash!**_ She picked herself up as quickly as she could, her optics locking onto her attacker. A Mack concrete mixer, MixMaster. She fired upon him as the humans scattered for cover, they weren't the targets, she was.

It was clear that the Constructicon was only interested in her, as were the others who were just shifting into their bi-pedal forms. She glanced towards the humans to find out were they had taken cover, and in her moment of distraction, she was tackled to the ground. She fought to gain purchase on the 'cons armor, to push him off her. She wished that she was given the chance to work on her hand to hand more because it was now that a canon blast would most likely harm them both and she needed to be able to fight back, not lay there in a pile of metal. She managed to her legs between herself and the mech and kick him off. She was going to have to suggest better trained to Prime and Ironhide when this was all over. She rapidly fired her canons at the advancing Decepticons, only knocking them back a few steps.

Muttering a few choice Cybertronian swears under her breath she backed up searching for cover. She hunkered behind a grouping of trees while trying to reach Ironhide. All she got was static, which she took as a very bad sign. She glanced at the humans who were fighting along side her, their faces conveyed a feeling of panic and fear. As well it should, she thought as she rolled from her hiding place just as it blew up. She wished that she had more help, and that the humans aim was a little better. But she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Whatever that meant.

_I need back-up!_

A connection was finally made between the two Autobots, she growled as she continued to fire upon the Decepticons while forming a message of her own to send back to him.

_I am a little busy at the moment I've got a few problems of my own. _

_Mother fragger! _

She felt the same way as the weapons specialist, someone had gotten their information wrong, very wrong. She could have blamed Prime for only sending the two of them, but at the time they thought it was only the one Decepticon. Not 8, she had no idea how Ironhide and the others were doing at the moment.

She picked herself up again, "Mother fraggin' son of a scrap heap!"

She threw herself at the nearest 'con, forgoing her earlier thoughts and firing point blank into his chest plating. The resulting blast threw her several yards and dented her plating, she would need a repaint as well. But that was at the bottom of her list of concerns at the moment. She tried to get up, but discovered that it was more difficult than it should have been. She twisted to find out what was on top of her, it was MixMaster.

For the first time since she landed on Earth she felt fear rush through her servos. She send out a distress call, preying to Primus that someone, Autobot or human, would come to her aid. As it was she was wondering where the hell the humans that were supposed to be fighting beside her where. She groaned in pain as she was pushed into the ground.

"Since when did they start sending femmes into battle?" said MixMaster as he continued to apply pressure to Enigma's back. She let out a yell when the pressure dented her back causing a few wires to cross that really shouldn't cross. They looked down at her a mixture or disgust and joy on their faceplates.

The Constructicons not causing harm to the femme went back to firing at the humans, forcing them to retreat further away from their comrade.

_Ironhide! I need back-up!_

_I'll be there as soon as I can, 'Nig!_

_That might not be…_She screamed as large metal hands began to rip away at her armor, revealing her sensitive and vulnerable wires.

"No, don't kill her! We can use her," said the Decepticon known as Sideways, he had left the other battle to see how his friends were doing, and to lend a hand against the humans.

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Ironhide growled as he fired upon the Decepticons, it was all a trap and they walked right into it! How could they be so stupid to actually believe that it would only be one, it was never just one! He barely noticed when he brought down one Decepticon. He had to get to Enigma, he had to help her. She was just a femme, a powerful and strong fighter but a femme. She couldn't be expected to be able to deal with a group of 'cons on her own. He was having trouble so he could only imagine what she was dealing with. He shouted a warning at Lennox as he lunged in front of him.

Engaging Sideways in hand to hand combat wasn't something that he planned on doing but the 'con was making it more and more difficult for long range weapons. He wished that there were more Autobots doing battle but as it was he had to deal with fighting on his own. He threw Sideways back and let out a feral growl.

_Ironhide! I need back-up!_

He wanted to help her, he really did but he was currently fighting off another Decepticon. _I'll be there as soon as I can 'Nig!_

And it was true, just as soon as he could get away and know that the humans would be safe he would go to her.

_That might not be…_

He waited for the rest of her message, when it wasn't forthcoming he yelled and began to fire with more anger and even more accuracy. After landing a quite a few damaging blows he turned to locate Sideways, he was running towards Enigma's location. The weapons specialist kept on turning until he found Lennox.

"I have to get to Enigma."

"No go, big man. We need you here!" shouted Lennox as he fired a sabor round at a near by Decepticon. Ironhide did something then that made the human man stop dead in his tracks, and was extremely out of character for the old mech.

"Enigma is like a daughter, now either you let me go or I leave you here," in the moments it took him to say how he felt towards the femme her scream reached their ears. He didn't wait for an answer, he took off towards her last known location.

He burst through the trees and brush only to find the humans standing, shell shocked and dazed in the empty clearing. It was evident that battle had taken place but there were no Decepticons and, much to his horror, no Enigma. He rushed into the clearing scanning the area, the only Cybertronian item in the field was a piece of armor. A piece of armor that he knew came from Enigma, she was the only one to have that shade of blue. He picked up the piece of armor and turned to face the humans.

"Where is she?"

"There's no time, we have to get back to the other team," said one of the men, he was the only one brave enough to speak to the mech. Ironhide huffed and began to walk back towards the others, he couldn't go after her. He didn't know which way they had gone and it was rather clear that the humans didn't either. Although how that was possible was questionable, unless the humans had been distracted by something more important than helping their comrade.

When he got back to Lennox and his team he found them all sitting and out of breath. Lennox looked up at the Autobot, relief on his face. However it was quickly replaced by fear when the mech tossed down the piece of armor he had been carrying.

"Shit, man." murmured Epps as they took in what it meant. They had been lucky enough not to lose any humans during the battle, but the shock of losing an Autobot was enough to send them into grief as well. They were all like family, a messed up family, but still. How could they lose her?

"Ironhide?"

"She was gone…Just gone. So where those pit-slaggin' Constructicons." He transformed back into a black topkick and sat there.

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**Song used by Bumblebee:** This Isn't What We Meant by Savatage

**Authors Note:** Yes, I ended there for a reason. And yes I am fully aware that I can not write good battle scenes, bare with me I am working on it. And if you feel that I did I good job writing the battle scenes then please let me know. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, too.


	10. Chapter 10: Broken Promises

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Transformers.

**Authors Note:** I hope that this isn't too short, but I feel that I got what I needed to say, said. As always, enjoy.

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Enigma fought against the hands holding onto her shoulders, she had to get away, she had to get back to Ironhide and the others. She tried to activate her canons, however the sudden hand gripping the exposed wires of her back stopped her. She had no real option in the pending matters, it was either submit to them or be killed. She was going to go with the former and try her best to get a signal out to her fellow Autobots.

Sideways was quite pleased with himself for capturing an Autobot, even if Starscream would most likely want the renegade scrap destroyed, he felt that he might be able to convince their new leader to use the captive. He didn't quite remember her from Cybertron but her fear of him made him feel all the powerful, and he planned on using her fear to his advantage. Who knew what he would be able to get the femme to do, and with her back damaged as much as it was he could insure her complete obedience.

He came to a stop, the remaining members of his team surrounding Enigma, preventing her from attempting escape. Even if she did try to get away it wouldn't matter, she would be brought down in an instant, however the state in which she would be brought down was of little concern to them. Enigma looked at Sideways, if her face could have shown emotion it would have shown great fear. She want to speak but she was much to afraid, her vocal processors seemed to have chosen that moment that refuse to work.

"Starscream will not be pleased," said one of the Constructicons eyeing Enigma. While he was right, Sideways had plans for her.

"He might not be pleased at first, but she is Autobot, and so can be used to get at Optimus Prime and the others." It was clear that he had been thinking it through ever since he had laid optics on her. She bowed her head, she was going to be killed and she knew it. There was no way for the others to save her, and she had no way of protecting herself. The missing section of her armor prevented her from shifting and made it relatively easy to bring her down. All it would take was a well aimed blow and she wouldn't be getting back up.

_Sideways to Starscream. We are successful, and are bringing a surprise._

_Primes head I hope._ came the reply, Starscream was flying towards them hoping to find Optimus Primes lifeless body. He circled down towards them, transforming instants before any normal jet would have crashed. He landed on his feet and walked towards them. He came to a stop before Enigma, a sneer on his face as he looked her over.

"What is this Autobot doing alive, Sideways," he demanded.

"My lord, I thought that we could use her to trap Optimus and the other Autobots. They would not leave one of their own behind," he answered quickly.

Starscream looked at him, then back at the femme. He wasn't pleased with his followers at the moment, but he had a plan slowly forming. They could use the femme to attract Prime and the others and be done with them all thanks to her.

"You will carry her back," he said pointing a massive finger at the Decepticon responsible for their captive. He then transformed and took off back towards the location they had decided to call a temporary home base. One of the small unnamed and uninhabited islands that was one of the thousands belonging to Greece. They changed islands every few days so as to avoid attracting attention from the locals.

Sideways groaned, he hadn't thought about that and he was sure that the femme wasn't going to make it easy for him to transport her. He grabbed her, sliding his hand under her broken armor and gripped her tightly, she flinched and gave a whimper. There really wasn't supposed to be a hand there, nor were the wires and gears supposed to be exposed.

"I am not going to have any problems with you am I?" he growled as he pushed her forwards, it would slow going until they got to the boat. She bowed her head and kept her mouth shut, resigning herself to forming a boosting a signal.

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Ironhide rolled off the C-17 slowly, refusing to believe that she was gone, it just wasn't possible. And yet it had happened; he should have tried to get to her sooner, he should have gone with the other team of humans. Lennox would have defended her better than the others, surely. He rolled past the Optimus and Bumblebee and his spark all but broke. How was he going to tell him?

He refused to stop despite their calling after him, he rolled into the hanger and shifted back into his bi-pedal form. He glanced over at Ratchet who was looking back at him, he sank down on to the concrete slowly.

"Ironhide, what is wrong, you are usually in a much better mood than this," asked Ratchet as he walked over, giving the weapons master a quick scan. He had some minor damage, but none of it would effect him so.

The old mech didn't answer, to say it out loud would make it real. He looked at the entrance to the hanger as Optimus, Bumblebee and the humans walked in, he could see the piece of armor in Major Lennox's hands. So the human had told them when he couldn't, he was supposed to be a warrior slag it! He looked at Bumblebee and it was clear upon the young mechs face how he felt. Ironhide turned his gaze away from the little mech but he couldn't shake the feeling of eyes burning into him.

Optimus walked over to him, his mood solemn as he laid a massive hand on his friends shoulder. "We have lost a great comr--"

"She's not dead, Optimus." whispered the great mech as he looked at Bumblebee.

"I hate you." They all stared at Bumblebee in shock, they had heard him use the word hate before, but never in reference to a fellow Autobot. Ironhide lowered his head, he hated himself enough for the both of them.

After a few minutes of silence Ironhide stood up and walked over to the yellow Autobot, he stared straight into his optics and held his gaze.

_You promised, Ironhide._

_I know I did, and I will get her back. You know she's not dead, so don't you forget it. _

_I can barely feel her, Ironhide. I think she is…_

"Don't you dare say it, 'bee," grumbled the black mech as he placed a hand on his shoulder, with his other hand he took the piece of armor from Lennox. He handed it to Bumblebee before he walked out of the hanger and transformed in a black topkick. They watched him drive away, Lennox and Epps watched him a few moments before turning back to Optimus.

"I trust that if she had fallen you would have brought her back. So the only logical thing left is to believe that she has been taken. And if so, she is in great danger, we must find her quickly."

"I've got satellites searching as we speak," Epps stated as he walked over towards one of the relatively empty tables. Ratchet leaned down beside him, the two of them were quickly engaged in a discussion about signatures and pockets of energy.

Bumblebee sat down in a corner and leaned back, his head resting upon the wall behind him. He couldn't feel her as well now, it was almost as if she was disappearing completely. Lennox busied himself and Optimus by going over the turn of events leading to Enigma's capture.

"I don't think taking Enigma was their original goal. They had set a trap for us, knowing that we would separate our forces to find them. We ended up fighting in different locations, Ironhide was with me, Enigma was with the others. Most of whom I am going to be talking to just as soon as I finish up here. They should have tried to protect her, or at least been paying attention." He wasn't pleased with his team, their actions were inexcusable, if it were one of them being dragged off they would have gone after them. And the odds of Enigma going without resistance was very slim.

Optimus spoke. "Then we must work very quickly and hope that she thinks on her feet."

"Optimus! We've got a signal!" called Ratchet, his tone was pleased but it still held grief for the missing counter part.

"Where?" the Autobot leader replied as he knelt down to look at the small computer screen.

"It's moving rapidly so I can't track it, but it was near Greek Islands."

"That area will be difficult to search."

"Optimus, it wasn't a Decepticon signal, it was Autobot," the medical officer stated, a hint of joy in his voice. "I think she may have managed to get a message out with their location."

"Do we have proof?" he asked, glancing quickly over his shoulder at the still silent and unmoving Bumblebee.

"It has been scrambled."

"How does that help, Ratchet, the Decepticons scramble their signals as well."

"Let him finish," growled a voice that they all knew to belong to Ironhide, he had just come back to the hanger and was in the middle of transforming when he spoke. He was given a welcoming nod before their attention was once again upon the medical officer.

"I have been working with Enigma on coded scrambles. She is the only one of us who would be forced to use it. But I am having trouble finding the key to it all."

"What kind of a key are we talking about, Ratchet?" asked Epps who was willing and ready to get to work cracking the femmes code. Ratchet looked down with a Cybertronian sigh, it was very hard to know what the femme had chosen.

"Either a single of your Earth words or phrases."

"There are numerous possibilities, perhaps we can narrow it down. Bumblebee," called Optimus. The yellow Autobot got up and walked over to join them sadly. It was still evident that he was doubting. Although he had heard everything they had shared he didn't trust it. His spark was telling him that something was wrong, that Enigma wasn't going to be with them much longer.

"You know her better than any of us, young one, what would she use?" asked the leader, he looked at the little scout.

Silence seemed to settle over them, causing each of them to worry more, to fear the moment when he would offer words towards their search. He wasn't really trying to think of anything, even though he should have been. He couldn't help it, she didn't make it back when she should have, more of them should have gone along. It wasn't never a simple mission when Decepticons were concerned, and Optimus knew that. So why did he only send the two of them. Didn't he know the odds, and if he did why did he send Enigma.

Bumblebee wasn't trying when it finally came to him, _Promise_, would she? It was worth a try. However the odds could be against them at this point, he had a feeling in his spark that this would be the word to break it. To make everything perfectly clear, or as clear as it could be for transmission that had probably traveled halfway across the globe.

"Promise," he said using an audio clip from one of the many songs he had stored in his databank. He looked at Ratchet, his optics conveying everything that he needed to say. The medical officer nodded at Epps who quickly input the information with his assistance in the numeric coding. The others then retreated, leaving the two of them to work it out while they talked about their plans of action.

Bumblebee didn't feel like being a part of either one of the groups at the moment, so he retreated back to the corner he had claimed earlier upon hearing the depressing news. This was not unnoticed by the others, but it wasn't at the top of their lists. They had to think of how they were going to get her back, and still defeated the Decepticons who had the gall to take her in the first place. Ironhide was more than ready to destroy them without a plan of attack, however he was going to take a step back and allow Optimus to set up the operation.

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Enigma had all but shut down her systems, she refused to make it simple for them. If they wanted her, they would have to carry her. As it was, Sideways was doing so, and making a note to complain to any Decepticon stupid enough to get to close to him. It was in those moments that Starscream was more than grateful for the Earthen form he had chosen.

He landed on the small island, coming to his full height he walked towards the rudimentary shelter they had built with stolen materials. He began to build a holding cell for the prisoner they had so joyous obtained, it was a shame that he hadn't thought about it. But he would take the credit for it when it succeeded. He deserved to the one to take out the Autobots; to destroy Optimus Prime and the others once and for all. Then he could become ruler of this planet, he could control its people and their barbaric machines.

He was the only one who had any right to rule, Megatron was weak, he was killed by a human youth. A human youth that he had been unable to kill. He looked towards the shore, his minions had finally arrived with their prisoner. And, to his great amusement, they were having trouble moving her. She wasn't all that big so what could possibly be keeping them. He zoomed in, once he focused he found the cause of all their troubles. The femme had offlined herself, such a smart thing she was.

He was going to have fun with her.

* * *

**Songs used by Bumblebee:** _I hate everything about you_ by 3 doors down, _This I Promise You_ by N'sync


	11. Chapter 11: Ripped

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Transformers.

**Authors Note:** I would like to inform my readers that due to the nature of this chapter and ones following I am raising the rating level. I hoeat this does not cause any of you discomfort or make you stop reading. So I am giving a warning now to all of my readers that if you do not enjoy toture and/or suggestive themes then please do not read. I am, however doing my very best to keep it rather clean dispite the content. Read and enjoy.

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Starscream found the femme to very irritating, since the day they captured her all she had done was submit. Which admittedly was nice, but he had expected her to put up a fight, to do something more than offline herself. He wondered how it was that she had been able to do so without a second thought, and even more so he struggled to grasp the notion that the femme had outsmarted him. He had planned to question her; to force her to tell him the location of the Autobots and the remaining piece of the Allspark. He just didn't get it, how could she be willing to do such a thing. Unless, of course, that she was near death and shutting her systems down was the only way she was going to survive.

Not if he had anything to do with it. If she thought she was safe then she was horribly, horribly wrong. They could still cause her pain, make her wish for death. Make her regret her foolish actions and give up to them. To become their slave, their ace in the hole. And with a femme they could create sparklings, all they had to do was…Well thoughts of that made his internal systems overheat.

He stared at Enigma, wondering what was going on in her processor, what it was that drove her into the abyss that he could only imagine. He walked over towards her, determined that he was going to bring her out of her silent reverie. He placed a large metal hand on her chest plate, he could feel the heat of her spark, so she wasn't going to be dying on them anytime soon. Which was just the way he liked it. He leaned down over the femme known as Enigma, his head inches from her own.

"Wake up, femme."

When she didn't stir he tried again, and again. Until he finally gave up, he climbed onto the table and straddled her prone form. He glared down at her, his crimson optics burning with sadistic glee. He was really going to enjoy this. He had never bothered to invest time in the femmes back on Cybertron, even before the Civil War began, he was much to busy working for Megatron and working on his plot to throw the ignorant bastard into the dust.

Starscream opened his chest plate and was beginning to work the femmes chest plates back when he heard something he shouldn't. A voice, a voice belonging to a mech that he had instructed to go on a mission.

"Starscream. What are you doing?" demanded Sideways as he marched into the building. He was furious with his leader. How dare he think that he could do such a thing with the femme, when it was he, Sideways, who had been the one to take her in the first place. If anyone was going to try mating with the femme it should be him. And he knew without a doubt that it what his master was intending to do, why else would he expose his spark in such a way.

He always knew Starscream was stupid, but he didn't think he was this stupid. For all they knew the femme could have waiting for one of them to let down their guard before she chose to strike. It would be a messy end should that have been her plan. But judging by the fact that Enigma hadn't so much as twitched under the weight, it was unlikely. Sideways wondered, in those few moments of silence if it was indeed the femmes desire to lure them into a false sense of security. To make them weak. But she was offline, wasn't she?

"Sideways, what are you doing here!" yelled Starscream as he leapt from the table and crossed the small distance of the room. He stood before the smaller mech, towering above him with an evil glare, which hardly seemed to faze the smaller bot at all.

"I have returned to make sure that all was well with the femme," he stated, uncaring of his masters anger. He had suffered it before so it was of little threat now. Besides he knew for a fact that nothing would happen to him. If he was destroyed the others would go through with the uprising without him. It was only a matter of time.

"That is not concern of yours, Sideways, now get out."

"I don't think I want you alone with her."

"And what makes you think that I give a slag what you think, you rusty scrap heap. Now get out!"

"Have you forgotten that _I_ was the one to capture her, Starscream. Not you. You didn't even fight in the battle with the Autobots," Sideways was growing more and more confident.

Starscream looked at the Decepticon that was currently standing up to him. How dare he treat him this way?! How dare he question him! He was the leader of the Decepticons now, not Megatron, and most certainly not _him!_ He grabbed the offending robot by the neck, doing little damage or discomfort and yanked him off the ground.

"You are nothing. Now get your slagging aft out of here before I decide to use you for target practice!" he threw Sideways back, the mech leaving ruts in the soft ground. He got up with the feral growl and left the building, thoroughly angry with himself for allowing that pain in the aft to treat him so horribly. His day would come, and when it did he would be the one throwing Starscream into the mud.

Starscream looked back at the femme, his optics glowing, he was going to have that femme if it was last thing he did. He turned to walk towards her, his desire to take her gone and replaced by a desire to make her squeal. To squeal in pain, to beg for his mercy.

He tapped her on the forehead where the two sections of her battle armor met, "I am going to enjoy this, you however will not."

Enigma had tried to ignore the touches, to force them to the back of her processor before they crept into focus destroying the wall she had created. It had all but crumbled when her chest plates were being forced apart. She thought about coming back online to fight the metal off of her, although something told her that he would probably enjoy that more than he would doing what he was already planning. She wouldn't give him the pleasure of such a thing. No, she had to remain inactive, if not for her sake then for her friends. For Bumblebee. So much rested on her shoulders, and her spark ached for his, to be close to him again, to see his face.

She never thought that she would miss him as much as she did now. The way he spoke, when he chose to, the way he was always close to her. How he cared for Sam and Mikaela. She even missed Ironhide, the old grump of a robot. She missed Ratchet's glare, Optimus' watchful gaze and slow voice. She missed it all. That's what drove her, what kept her from giving in and allowing the Decepticons to have their way. She wasn't going to let them down, she couldn't. She would rather die than know that she had betrayed them.

She couldn't shake the feeling of those taps from her mind, and his words sank deep into her mind. What was he planning? Did she dare come back online and find out, or did she risk even more danger keeping herself in the limbo like place she was now? However her mind was made up for her when a pair of hands flipped her over then wormed their way under the section of broken armor. Her optics flickered back to life, unseen by her capture as he began to pull at the rest of her armor.

Her gears groaned in protest, trying to protect her sensitive wiring and gears. If he managed to get it off of her…she shuttered to think of the unbearable damage he could cause. Even Ratchet wouldn't be able to repair some of it. Her shutter didn't go unnoticed, and the fact that she had come back online pleased Starscream to no end. Now he could have more fun. He could get all the information he desired and still be able to do anything else he wanted.

Enigma ran a quick self-diagnostic, the only main concern that popped up was the lack of armor at the base of her back. Everything else was in perfect working order, so that clearly meant they wanted something from her, why else would they keep her alive for as long as they had. A small whimper of pain slipped out, barely audible but it was loud enough. It got her captors attention, who made the pain all the worse as he forgo pulling quickly for a slow tugging. He was going to rip her armor off inch by inch and she knew it. She tried to offline herself again, to go back into the deep sleep that had kept her safe. But something wasn't allowing it to happen and the pain spreading through her body didn't help much either.

"Let's see what's under all this armor, femme," growled a sadistic Starscream as he gave one final sharp tug, wrenching the remaining armor covering her back out of place completely.

Her mechanical scream rang through his audio receptors, echoing off the steel of the walls back at her. She wished for some release, something to take her mind off the pain he was causing, but she couldn't focus on anything. Everything was a complete blur, nothing made sense; not the grey walls around her, the laughter ringing off the walls mixed with her own screams.

Starscream's optics conveyed his obvious enjoyment as he began to run his cold metal fingers over the exposed wires before him. He didn't know where to start, perhaps she could give him a hint. His actions proved fruitful very quickly, another scream bounced off the walls that however wasn't what he was looking for. It was the way she moved, trying to arch away from him, her fingers trying to grasp the slick metal table she was on. It was pointless for her to even try, it might only be stainless steel that she lay upon but was massive. It had no edge, the solid block of metal had proved to be more useful than he expected.

He wrapped his hand around a particularly sensitive bundle of wires, "Where are the Autobots?"

Enigma thought of the many ways she could answer that question. She could refuse to answer and have her secondary systems ruined. She could tell him, but then what kind of Autobot would she be? She could insult him, although that brought her to the same conclusion as not speaking. Her choices where very limited.

_What would Ironhide do?_ she thought. She knew the answer right away. He would insult him. It was also then that she found her way out. Thinking about the others. Currently her thoughts zoomed towards Ironhide while her spark sped great fully towards the thought of Bumblebee.

She gathered the words in the mind before saying them considering that in all likely hood they would be the last thing she would ever say.

"Shove it up your after burner, you pit-slaggin' terran-taint."

She didn't regret her choice of words even as he crushed the wires and bits of metal together. The moan of pain that escaped from her was less than satisfying. Starscream was fuming, he was sure that she would have told him something. Not insulted him, however her choice of words did seem to have been very well thought out.

He gripped another bundle of wiring, "Where are they?!"

"Rusty kite." It wasn't the answer he was looking for so he pulled, a shower of sparks lit up the area, cascading over them. Enigma's scream started strong then died in a whir that could only mean failure, the glow of her optics ceased to shine in the dim light. Starscream flipped her over, she didn't fight back against him, she couldn't. As much as touch could tell her she needed sight to know for certain where he was located.

Enigma lost herself in memories of her friends, of the mech that was, without a doubt, her spark mate. She knew that now, Bumblebee was the one she was meant to be with, the one Primus had created just for her, and her for him. She could clearly recall cadence of his speech, as if it was still in her head. She groaned in protest as a weight settled over her body. Fear struck her again as the pressure on the exposed wires of her back increased, she couldn't see Starscream but she could feel him.

Starscream had once again resumed a position over her, he looked down at her his red optics locking onto her own. Which, he noted, were starting to come back to life. Maybe he didn't do as much damage as he thought in the earlier moments. No matter. She was his now.

"Starscream." demanded a voice from the entrance, Sideways had returned back to the building however this time he was not alone. MixMaster had joined him, something that Starscream wasn't pleased about, but he knew that the Constructicon could easily be dealt with. All he had to do was offer him his chance with the femme. He would never give it to him, but he didn't need to know that.

"What do you want now, Sideways? Can you not tell that I am busy getting information from the femme," his tone said everything he wasn't going to say. Sideways glared at him, he had heard the femmes screams from earlier, but now that she had gone silent was mildly concerned. After all they couldn't use a dead form to attract the remaining Autobots. No, she needed to be alive, and that was just what she was going to be. He stalked towards them, pausing only when he stepped on something that shouldn't have been there. He bent down to pick it up, examining it carefully. So Starscream had been having some fun, some dangerous fun. Dangerous for the femme that is. He continued towards the table, setting down the armor his red optics met with another pair.

"Perhaps the femme would be of more use if she remained alive, master," he suggested. Starscream pondered what he heard, it was very true. They needed her alive, so he couldn't very well kill her now could he.

"That is so very true." He stated before turning his attention back to Enigma. He glanced at Sideways, both of them had the same idea now. They couldn't kill her, but they could make her wish for death. And once they had the others they would grant her wish.


	12. Chapter 12: It's all coming back

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Transformers.

**Author Note:**This chapter is the reason for the jump in ratings. And I would like to take the time to tell you all that the very beginning of this chapter has non-consentual themes. For those of you that have stayed with me, I would like to tell you that I am sorry for the horror way I am treating my characters. But the ending might be better.

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Enigma's boundaries had been pushed to the limit and crossed in the most violent of ways. Her armor had been ripped apart, the exposed wires either pulled from their proper places or crushed against the gears and parts within. She fought back in the only way she could, by keeping silent and suffering more, trying to push them to kill her. If she would rather die than betray her companions and such as it was death wasn't forthcoming. Even the memories she had of the others weren't able to keep her away from the pain.

She had known fear before, but what she felt towards the Decepticons who captured her was on a whole new level. They knew no bounds when it came to torture, they had forced her into an overload enjoying the moments when her body arched, when it seemed that she would melt the table.

She struggled to throw Starscream off, to buy herself sometime so she could offline herself, but no matter when she tried, she couldn't. It was as if they had taken that from her as well, what more could they take from her. They had taken her freedom, they had taken something pure and turned it into something monstrous. Mating was supposed to be something between spark mates, a chance to heal, to share joys and worries. It was now, in her mind, the only form of pain she couldn't withstand.

She did everything in her power to end it, to stop the energy from flowing into her, to send it back at him. But it was pointless, anything she pushed back was shoved right back at her two-fold. Starscream took her struggles as a sign of enjoyment, which couldn't be further from the truth. More and more energy rushed into her systems, crashing over her in waves of pain. Until finally her core over heated sending her into a headlong dive into system failure.

When she came back online she knew that it was only the beginning of the new day. She longed for something, anything to save her. She could hear something strange going on, canon fire and it was drawing closer. She could hear Starscream swear before rushing from the building, leaving her there to come back to life. To bring herself back from the overload that still echoed through her body.

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They rode in silence, the gentle roar of the C-17's engines seemed louder than normal. But it was probably only because of the weight of the mission. This was a matter of life or death. They all knew how much was at stake, not only the life of Enigma, but for the sake Bumblebee as well. He hadn't been the same since she was taken. Nor had Ironhide, the only one of the Autobots to have seen her last. The humans she had been fighting along side had been punished to no end. By both their commanding officers and the Autobots they worked along side on a daily basis.

Lennox looked around, thankful that Optimus had agreed to their help, they needed help more than anything when trying to find the island. It had proven simpler than they expected, but they excepted it in stride. Not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Or would it be a gift mech in the mouth. Either way, it didn't matter. They had found her.

Ironhide didn't enjoy flying at the best of times so to say that now was better would have been a complete and total lie. Ratchet was doing his best to keep both the weapons specialist and a certain scout calm. He wished that Optimus was traveling with them but space was very limited and so the leader was in the other plane. Ratchet was as worried as the rest of them, he cared for her just as much as the others, however his worry was more concentrated on how she was surviving.

The piece of armor they had had sent fear straight to his core, it wasn't safe for any of them to have their armor removed in such a manor. He could only hope that nothing else had happened to her, that she was safe. Bumblebee couldn't take another blow like the one Sam had given him when he found out.

The human teen had reacted stupidly, under estimating the love that his 'car' felt for her. He didn't understand why this was any different than losing another member of the team. At least until Optimus had taken the time to explain to him, and by then the damage was done to their relationship. It would never truly be the same between them. Bumblebee, however, had chosen to treat Sam with a strange new disdain, opting to ignore the boys requests.

Bumblebee was currently doing his best to feel for her spark, to feel the pull of her. He hadn't felt it in a over two months and he was starting to lose hope. Ironhide had done his best to keep his spirits up, and on more than one occasion he had been the target for one of Ratchet's many tools. Which had come flying at him from across the hanger. They had to keep him positive, for all their sakes. A depressed camaro wouldn't do anyone any good.

"Autobots, prepare to roll out, we're dropping in," came Optimus' voice over their radios. They all started their engines, and waited while the straps holding them in place were removed. They rolled forward as the back of the C-17 lowered and the wind began to whip at them.

"Let's roll!"

"Alright, all clear! You guys ready?" asked one of the many men standing near the rear of the plane.

"All right!" came the ready reply from 'bee as he zoomed out of the plane after Ironhide, Ratchet following after him. They could make out the island below them, the ground steadily coming closer and closer. Weapons at the ready they landed without cause for delay, they rushed towards the middle of the island in silence as the team lead by Lennox made their way around to secure the area.

Ironhide ripped into the Decepticons, cannons blazing as he created a path towards what he assumed was Enigma's cell. He blasted MixMaster square in the chest, knocking the over-grown blender to the ground. "Decepticon punk!" he growled as he lunged at another, Optimus at his side.

Bumblebee seemed to have disappeared, using his scout programming to find a way to the building. He knew Ratchet was supposed to be coming with him, but he knew that the large lime green mech wouldn't be able to keep up with him. As it was, however, he seemed to be doing a bang up job of it. He dodged past Sideways quickly aiming a blast from his cannon as he did so. He didn't know if it landed on target, but he didn't care. He could feel Enigma's spark pulling at him, but it was faint and growing weaker. He sped up, ignoring the calls coming from behind him.

He spun away from the building when Starscream came screaming from within, that was all the proof he needed of her location. He hid as the dark colored mech rushed towards the battle ensuing. Both Ironhide and Optimus making short work of the Decepticons. Bumblebee snuck into the building, preying to Primus that Enigma was within and that she was safe and unharmed.

Only part of his prayer was answered; she was there alright laying on the table and on the floor. The scene before him caused his spark to run cold, for every fiber of his being freeze as it sank in. She was laying there, caught between her proto-form and her alt-form, a horrible mixture of thread bare metal and dented and scratched armor. He barely noticed when Ratchet entered behind him, but he noticed his reaction, it was rather hard not too in the small space.

Ratchet froze, he had seen a lot of battle wounds but nothing like what he saw now. He took in the armor littering the floor and the form laying on the block of steel. He didn't want to believe that it was Enigma, it couldn't be the femme, it just couldn't be. She was somewhere else, and safe. He forced himself to take a step forward, he knew that he was just trying to make it seem better than it was, but he couldn't let Bumblebee see him afraid. He scanned her quickly, his servo seemed to be icing over as the information was presented to him.

He glanced back at Bumblebee, the yellow mech still frozen to the spot. Turning back to Enigma he placed a large hand on her shoulder, her shutter of fear shook him more than it should have. "Enigma, we're here."

His tone was overflowing with professionalism, masking his true emotions as he began a quick field physical. He looked away from her for a moment, he knew that she was gone, there was no way she could come back from this. He could hear Bumblebee as he leaned against the table, as he shook his head in disbelief. He turned back, the scene before him all but killing him. He couldn't stand to see Bumblebee looking so broken, so lost as he looked down as his spark mate.

"Bumblebee…"

_Fix her, Ratchet. Fix her!_ Bumblebee stared at the CMO, his features frozen in anger and fear. He looked towards the door of the building, the crashes and booms coming from beyond it seemed to be calling to him now. He was going to destroy the ones responsible and nothing could stop him now. He charged out of the building, his plasma cannons rippling with energy as he launched himself at the first Decepticon to cross his path.

He blasted through MixMaster, and lunged towards the remaining ones not engaged in battle with Ironhide or Optimus Prime. The two senior mechs paused in their own fighting to watch in a mixture of pride and horror as the youngest of them blasted his way towards them. They couldn't stop to think for long, the two Decepticons before them had started to flee. Optimus raced forwards but came to a stop when Bumblebee jumped upon his target.

"Hope you are quite prepared to die!"

He stood up, the spark of his fallen enemy flickering out. Ironhide saw to the remaining one with gusto before turned to his teammates. He looked down at the Decepticons that the youngest of them had dealt with and for a moment hoped that he never got him mad. True, he had made the young mech hate him for a while, but who didn't hate him after than? Ratchet he guessed, but that old mech was a grump most of the times anyways.

Bumblebee's shoulders slumped downwards, his head bowed as Optimus laid a metal hand on his arm. The older purple and red Autobot silent. What could he say to him without making him feel worse, or making them all feel like they failed?

"One eye is taken for an eye," the sound byte played gently, almost a whisper. He looked at the building and began to walk back towards it. As they drew closer they could hear Cybertronian swears followed by murmurs of comfort. They walked in to find the medical bot spot welding her armor back onto her frame, whilst urging her back into her alt-form.

To say that she wasn't being cooperative was wrong, she was trying, but it was clear that it was hurting her more than it was helping her. However the fact that she was operational was more than they could have hoped for at the moment. Ironhide looked at Bumblebee and could see the weight had been lifted from his shoulders, that he was beginning to have hope again.

Bumblebee walked to the other side of the table, he reached out to grab Enigma's hand but found that hers had found his instead. She stared at him, her optics a pale blue from the damage they had sustained from the torture. She couldn't turn her head but she could still look at him, could still feel him and the pull in her spark. She could feel his love for her stronger than she had ever felt before, it was so much stronger now that he was in the room with her.

"Bumblebee, are you going to help me?" asked Ratchet as he gently grabbed her shoulders preparing to flip her over. The moment he touched her however, she reacted violently, knocking him backwards from the block of steal and onto his aft. A similar thing was happening on the other side of the table. Ironhide helped Ratchet back to his feet while Optimus bent over the table.

"And you thought I was bad, Ratch," said the weapons specialist. His comment was not appreciated, by any of them.

"Calm down, Enigma. Let Ratchet do his work," Optimus stated calmly, his large hands on either side of her body. Which only made it worse for her, the memories of Starscream, or Sideways over her replaying in her head.

_Optimus, please, let me talk to her._ Bumblebee asked over their com-link, as he placed his hand back on the table. His leader nodded, then turned to the door of the building when he heard his name called. Lennox and his team had made it, it seemed without trouble. He walked towards them with his hand up in a gesture to stop.

"It is not safe for you to be in the room with us," he said.

"Yeah, I've heard that one before. Now come one big man," Lennox tried to get around him, however when he saw Ironhide slide backwards then fall. He took a step backwards and patted Optimus on the lower leg. "I think we'll stay out here."

"That is a wise choice."

Ratchet sighed, as best a robot can of course, and stood next to Enigma. "Enigma, I am not going to hurt you. Now either you let me get to work or I offline you faster than a human can blink."

Her only response wasn't a pleasant one, it made Ironhide uncomfortable to hear it. In the next moment she was offlined before she could continue her verbal attack on the mechs around her. She didn't know if they were real, so often her mind played tricks on her. She could still feel the pull of her spark mate near her, and that was what she clung to now. At least until it went away that is. Everything went away.

She couldn't feel anything the pain was gone, but so was the pull in her spark.

Bumblebee looked at Ratchet, his unspoken question clear upon his metal features.

"I had to 'bee. Don't look at me like that." Ratchet turned her over and with a grumble began to rework in her inner wiring.

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**Songs used by Bumblebe:** Bad Moon Rising


	13. Chapter 13: My Happy Ending

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Transformers.

**Author Note:** I bring to you the next chapter in _Quick, But Not Quite Painless_.

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They had taken her back to the hanger a few hours after Ratchet had begun work, when he finally said that she was safe to move. However none of them expected her reaction when she came back online. Her cannons blasted quite a few holes and damaged quite a few mechs in the process. Namely Ratchet and Optimus Prime, who happened to be the closest to her, and so the ones who tried to get her back under control. Which only made it worst for them all.

As far as she was concerned she was still being held captive by the Decepticons, even if her processors told her that wasn't the case she didn't believe it. Ratchet firmly believed that the femme had lost all contact with the real world, that she had spilt the world into two very different places. Reality, which she refused to believe, and a nightmare. Both Ironhide and Major Lennox believed that the correct term for her behavior was Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Or to be very blunt, shell shocked. That she was reliving her time on Cybertron.

Enigma was lost, she could feel the pull in her spark but she couldn't find the bot that was causing it, or maybe she had but didn't know it. Whatever the case was, Cybertron wasn't going to be her home much longer, she had to get away from all the killing, from all the destruction caused by the war. She planned her escape every night, and the time for her launch was ever drawing closer. She was just waiting for the right moment, the one time when no one could stop her from getting away.

She looked around the dimly lit hanger, her optics taking in everything, the angle at which the other bots were sitting, how much time it would take them to react. And more importantly, how quickly she would be able to get away from them before they drug her back. It wasn't her first attempt, hopefully it would be her last. She stood up, that simple motion causing the others to get to their feet as well, she stared at them for a moment before taking off at a dead run towards the hanger doors.

"Ironhide, get them closed!" yelled Optimus as he tried to grab Enigma as she rushed past him. Ratchet managed to barely grab a hold of her scruff bar, the metal slipping from his fingers. She rammed straight into Ironhide, plowing the large black mech to the ground. She might have been small but she had power behind her. Ironhide, however, was a fighter and grabbed her leg as she made to get away from him. She toppled to the ground, twisted around, her cannons coming to full power.

Ironhide didn't flinch, he had been on the other end of cannons before.

Bumblebee shifted from his alt-form of a yellow Chevy camaro, he was returning to the hanger for the next few weeks. In the hopes that he would be able to help with his spark mate, and it seemed to him that his timing was perfect. "Enigma."

She twisted around to face him, wrenching her leg away from Ironhide as she did so. She eyed him carefully before pulling herself up to stare him straight in the baby blue optics.

"Please. Stop, I beg of you. You're safe now, they can't hurt you," Bumblebee reached out towards her, praying to Primus that she would be alright, that she would stop making attempts to runaway. She only stared at him, judging her odds at getting away from him.

"'Cause I remember…you promised."

"I promised…"

Something seemed to change in the air, everything seemed to go have gone still, like the whole world was holding it's breath. Enigma remembered her promise as well, and knew that only one other mech knew that promise. She looked at the hand reaching towards her, her fear replaced by longing. She knew him, she loved him, she missed him more than she could possibly say.

Regret filled her mind as his hand connected with her shoulder; she could still feel the bitter cold of space, hear the screams. But what caused her more pain was knowing that while she was reliving those vorns she was hurting the others. That she was acting like…like a Decepticon. At least that it what she felt like now.

Ironhide had retreated back into the hanger, the only thing to have taken damage was his ego. Bumblebee had watched him leave, grateful for the privacy that they were granting them. He wanted to take her into his arms, to shelter her from the rest of the world. To be one with her, however Ratchet's words echoed through his head. He wanted Starscream's head on a platter, to use a human expression.

"Bumblebee, I am sorry," Enigma stated as she took a step towards him, her head bowed. Bumblebee lifted her head gently, leaning in to place his forehead against hers. He couldn't begin to understand what she felt, but he knew that he forgave her, he always would, and that he wanted her to be happy again. For her to be a part of them again.

Optimus walked over to them slowly, both Ironhide and Ratchet watching from within the hanger. "Enigma, I believe it would be wise for you to share what has happened to you."

"No, Optimus, I don't believe that would be a good decision," as always, Ratchet was being the sensitive one. He knew the hardships for battle as well as the next Autobot, how much the weight of loss felt upon the shoulders of the survivors. He had Ironhide's silence agreement. Optimus didn't share their opinion.

Enigma looked back at the others, her optics narrowing slightly. Were they all curious to know just what they left behind, just how badly Cybertron had suffered before coming to its end. She spun around and walked back into the hanger, they wanted to know, then fine, she would show them. She didn't bother to wait for them to gather around her, she engaged her holographic projector.

Cybertron sprang up around them; black smoke filled the air, never ending pits and caverns stretched as far they could care to see. All around them where broken bodies, the scrap left behind from the Decepticons mayhem. The ground seemed to glow blue from all the Energon spilt. A high pitched scream filled the air around them and the scene began to change, to move until they came upon the origin of the scream. A group of unprotected younglings being savaged. Being picked up one by one and either ripped apart or slammed against the formations around them.

The Decepticon turned to face them, then walk towards them. They recognized him as Sideways. Ironhide looked at Enigma, now he understood the way she acted in the C-17. Everything faded back, before they could speak another hologram flickered to life. Shrieking filled the air around them, the pounding of metal on metal, cannon blasts echoed off the hanger walls. It was daylight and the air was stale.

Again the scene began to move, moving much faster than before until everything stopped. Before laying upon the ground was a femme, her optics flickering as she clung to the youngling in her arms. Incomprehensible murmurs reached their audio receptors, it was clearly making them uncomfortable, but none of them could speak. They watched as the femme flew into the air and came back down in a rattling crash only twenty yards away, her spark flickering rapidly. The unnamed femme reached out for the screaming youngling, her hand fell to the ground, her spark had gone out.

The projection flickered then went out, Enigma collapsed to her knees clutching her arms around herself. She never wanted to relive it again, never wanted to see her friends and charges die. Optimus, the great leader of the Autobots, couldn't find the words to express his sorrow, to show the femme that he was sorry. Ironhide was enraged, as he rightly should be, while Ratchet was searching through his memory for something to offer the femme. Bumblebee was the first of them to move, kneeling down in front of her and pulling her to him, embracing her as the femme had the youngling.

Minutes passed in complete silence, until finally, they broke.

"I am sorry, Enigma," Prime turned away from her, he couldn't get the image of the broken bots out of his processor. He couldn't imagine living with those memories on a daily basis, the ones he had were bad enough. Although he wondered, if only for a moment, why she hadn't just told them what she saw, until he realized that even he couldn't put it into words. He walked out of the hanger, leaving the other with their thoughts.

Bumblebee continued to hold Enigma close to him, the pull in his spark filling him with warmth. He didn't know how she felt, what is what that was eating away at her now. She had shared her troubles with them, so why was she so upset now? He wanted to help her, to take the pain away. "_Enigma, I wish to help you."_

She brought her head up, her optics meeting his in question. "There is nothing you, any of you, can do to help me. This is my burden to bear. My memories…"

"Don't start with that, 'Nig. You're one of us and by Primus we help each other. It's about time you realized that," grumbled Ironhide from the other side of the room.

"Once again, Ironhide, you amaze us all with your inspirational words," replied Ratchet as he busied himself reorganizing his many tools.

"I don't recall asking for your opinion, old timer."

"Watch who you call old timer, trinket."

"Why don't you go reformat yourself with a lug wrench?"

"I'd rather reformat _you_ with a lug wrench," Ratchet turned to face his friend, the lug wrench fore-mentioned in hand.

"Bring it on, tinfoil turkey," Ironhide motioned for the CMO to come closer, mimicking one of the fighters he had seen on the world wide web.

"That's it manifold mouth. Come here!" Ratchet walked towards the weapons specialist, who in turn took a step back. He didn't want to end up welded to something he would regret. Nor did he want to discover that his cannons were now facing the wrong way.

Optimus walked back into the hanger, "It appears that things have returned to normal." He looked at each of his teammates one by one, if he could smile, he would have. Although seeing Enigma and Bumblebee so intimately embraced caused him to question the reason they were still in the hanger. Surely it would be wise for them to go and leave the two of them alone. However, judging by the manor in which Ironhide and Ratchet were acting it was better for them to be out of sight of the humans.

"Oh slag."

_**CRASH!**_

Bumblebee got to his feet, pulling Enigma with him. He wanted to be alone with her, maybe then she would be able to talk to him more. Maybe she would be able to open up to him, to let her spark guide her. He glanced at the others before heading towards the door, they walked passed Optimus who was trying very hard to get his Medical Officer away from his Weapons Specialist. Their disappearance would have gone unnoticed had Ironhide not chosen that moment to state the obvious.

"No swapping paint! Ow! Slag it, Ratch! Let me be!"

"Mute your vocal processors, Ironhide," Optimus said, allowing Ratchet to smack him in the back of the head with a lug wrench. His optics stayed the pair of bots until they disappeared around the side of the hanger. He looked at the two scraping robots and joy filled him. Love it seemed, was a very powerful thing, even for them. He turned his back to Ironhide and Ratchet.

"Of all the things that this world has taught us, love and friendship remain the most powerful. Even in the face of such destruction human and Autobot alike are able to find love. Our worlds are not so different, and there may yet be hope for Cybertron to find life again."

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**Quotes used by Bumblebee:** Batman Forever; Alfred Pennyworth, Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Rupert Giles, Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines; Dr. Peter Silberman, Supernatural; Sam Winchester, 30 Rock; Tracy Jordon.

**Author Note:** Thank you guys so much for reading my fanfiction. And to those of you that reviewer I would like to extend a very big Cybertronian hug from Enigma. It is my great pleasure to inform you that it is finally finished. And if my muses continue to work with me there may, and it's a big may, be a sequal. So keep on the look out. Lots of love, MA


End file.
